Fellow Frenchmen Benoit Paire and Lucas Pouille will kick off their Monte-Carlo campaigns on Tuesday. Paire is going up against 39-year-old Tommy Haas, while Pouille is facing the lone American in the draw–Ryan Harrison.
Benoit Paire vs. (PR) Tommy Haas
Paire and Haas will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season when they clash in round one of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Tuesday. Their only previous encounter came in round one of the Australian Open, where Paire led 7-6(2), 6-4 before Haas retired. At that stage of his latest comeback, the 39-year-old Haas could not even stay on the court for more than two sets due to fatigue. Haas is still just 1-4 on the year, but he has a couple of matches under his belt now and his fitness level has improved for the stretch run of his career–which will likely end after the grass-court swing. Haas went to three sets with Nikoloz Basilashvili in Delray Beach and with Jiri Vesely in the iguana match in Miami, and he picked up a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 win over Reilly Opelka last week in Houston prior to a respectable 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 setback against Jack Sock.
Needing a run in the next few weeks in order to snag a seed at the French Open, Paire has already played a whopping 28 matches in 2017. The world No. 40 is 13-10 at the ATP level and he finished runner-up to Aljaz Bedene at a clay-court Challenger in France earlier this month. Paire is coming off a semifinal performance in Marrakech, where he ousted Carlos Berlocq, Radu Albot, and Tommy Robredo before falling to Philipp Kohlschreiber. Having already gotten in nine clay-court matches this spring, Paire should have a slight edge at the expense of his much older opponent.
Pick: Paire in 2
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(11) Lucas Pouille vs. Ryan Harrison
Pouille has a boatload of points to defend through the U.S. Open and it continues this week in Monte-Carlo, where he reached the third round last season. Points have already started to come off the board for the 17th-ranked Frenchman, who lost his Miami opener to Donald Young after making a run to the last 16 of that Masters 1000 tournament in 2016. Pouille is a modest 9-7 this year, but he is coming off a solid Davis Cup performance on clay that saw him defeat Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund 7-5, 7-6(6), 6-3 while leading France to the semifinals.
Up first for the No. 11 seed on Tuesday is a first-ever meeting with Harrison, who is the only American in the Monte-Carlo field. Since capturing his first career ATP title on the indoor hard courts of Memphis in mid-February, has more weddings (one) than main-draw match wins (zero). His marriage to Christina McHale’s sister was preceded by first-round exits in Indian Wells (to Damir Dzumhur) and Miami (to eventual semifinalist Fabio Fognini). Harrison’s hot streak has obviously come to an end, he has never been at his best on clay, and Pouille basically has home-court advantage.
Pick: Pouille in 2
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who ya got?
same 🙂
Pouille in two Paire in three