Fellow Swiss stars Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka are one round away from the Monte-Carlo semifinals. They are first set for respective showdowns on Friday against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic.
(9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (4) Roger Federer
Tsonga and Federer will be doing battle for the 15th time in their careers when they clash in the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Friday. Federer is leading the head-to-head series 10-4, but it is tied up at just one win apiece on clay. The Swiss prevailed 6-4, 6-2 three years ago in Rome while Tsonga scored a convincing 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 victory in last season’s French Open quarters. They most recently faced each other earlier in 2014 at the Australian Open, with Federer cruising through a fourth-round encounter 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
The fourth seed has improved to 25-4 on the year following straight-set routs of Monte-Carlo doubles partners Radek Stepanek and Lukas Rosol. Clearly this is a much different Federer from the one who lost to Tsonga at Roland Garros and to Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon. Tsonga, meanwhile, is working hard to pick up occasional wins despite struggling with his game. The 12th-ranked Frenchman is a modest 14-7 this season and he looked especially poor in Indian Wells, Miami, and during recent Davis Cup action. Tsonga was on the ropes against Fabio Fognini on Thursday, but he saved six break points in the second set and escaped with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 triumph. Federer won’t be so generous and Tsonga won’t be able to keep points short enough on this surface.
Pick: Federer in 2 losing 8 games or fewer
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(3) Stanislas Wawrinka vs. (8) Milos Raonic
Wawrinka and Raonic will be meeting for just the third time in their careers on Friday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Wawrinka’s way; 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 at the 2012 Cincinnati Masters and 7-6(2), 6-4 last fall in Shanghai. The Australian Open champion cooled off just a bit in Indian Wells, Miami, and in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at home in Switzerland, but he appears to be back in business this week. Wawrinka destroyed an in-form Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-0 in his opener before getting a walkover past Nicolas Almagro.
Raonic at least had to take the court for his third-rounder, but his path to the last eight was also of the routine variety. The 10th-ranked Canadian dropped his first set of the event but recovered to storm past Yen-Hsun Lu 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1 before handling Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-3. Raonic is 10-3 for the year, picking up steam with quarterfinal showings in Indian Wells and Miami after an injury-plagued start to his 2014 campaign. Raonic’s serve will keep him competitive, but Wawrinka has to have the edge on clay.
Pick: Wawrinka in 3
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Poor Raonic, he has how many coaches, 2? and none of them can tell him that mindless bashing of the ball is not always the best tactic……………
I haven’t heard Tennis commentators “teaching” Raonic how to beat Wawrinka. They always “teach” Rafa’s opponents.
Oh God, Wawrinka wins and emits a primal roar, a la Djokovic…………
RT @pmouratoglou: “#Stan is an all surfaces player, but clay is a very “natural” surface for him. Remember he won Junior Roland Garros ?”
Colour me ignorant, well now I know……….
How can Fed miss so many of Break pts. opportunities.. He looks on path to lose this one.
Roanic I feel played much better than Wawa but he was just way way too passive on Wawa’s second serves! If he was just a tad more aggressive he woulld have perhaps sneaked in a set but I was so disappointed that he was not able to do so! I am not too impressed with Wawa, never thought I would see someone win a match only on second serves!!
Federer is missing so many break chances!
Tsonga is really giving a good account if himself here……his serves are rock solid! Good to see!