Second-round action in Montpellier will begin on Wednesday with Marin Cilic taking the court against Alexander Zverev. Gael Monfils, meanwhile, is kicking off his week against Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Alexander Zverev vs. (2) Marin Cilic
Cilic is making the move–without question reluctantly–from Zagreb to Montpellier for the Open Sud de France. The world No. 13 won the Zagreb tournament a whopping four times but it relocated to Sofia, Bulgaria this year. Thus Cilic had to find a new home for this spot on the calendar and he will begin his week in Montpellier on Wednesday. The second-seeded Croat is off to a lackluster start to 2016, having lost in the Brisbane quarterfinals to Dominic Thiem and in the Australian Open third round to Roberto Bautista Agut.
Up first for Cilic is a second career meeting with Zverev. Their only previous encounter came at the 18-year-old German’s breakout tournament last summer in Washington, D.C., where Cilic ended the underdog’s run with a 7-5, 7-6(3) quarterfinal victory. Zverev wrapped up 2015 as the ATP Star of Tomorrow (youngest player in the top 100) after earning 14 ATP-level match victories. The world No. 83 got a bad draw in Melbourne (lost to Andy Murray in the first round) but saved a match point to overcome Luca Vanni 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 during first-round action on Monday. This will not be easy for Cilic, but he is generally a force on indoor hard courts this time of year and he should start to get his game back on track.
Pick: Cilic in 2
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(5) Gael Monfils vs. (Q) Edouard Roger-Vasselin
Monfils will be back on the court for the first time since the Australian Open quarterfinals when he contests an all-French affair against Roger-Vasselin on Wednesday. The world No. 17 capitalized on Rafael Nadal’s early exit from the season’s first Grand Slam and made it to the last eight before succumbing to Milos Raonic in four sets. Monfils is 15-3 lifetime in Montpellier with two titles and one runner-up finish.
The fifth seed will be facing Roger-Vasselin for the fourth time in his career. Monfils has won all three of their previous meetings, including two at the ATP level last season (6-3, 6-2 on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam) and at the French Open (7-5 in the fourth set). Roger-Vasselin qualified for the main draw this week by taking out Andrea Arnaboldi and Igor Sijsling. The 32-year-old endured an injury-plagued 2015 and is looking for his first ATP-level, main-draw victory of 2016. Nothing suggests it will come at Monfils’ expense.
Pick: Monfils in 2
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who ya got?
La Monf in two and Cilic in three
I agree with Benny’s picks.
LaMonf in 2
Cilic in 2
I’ll go with Ricky’s picks. Would like to think Sascha gets a set…
Can Gulbis make it 2 in a row?
Cilic vs Zverev may be interesting but I cant watch. Hope for Cilic to win though I also like Zverev among the youngsters.
it was good in DC
LaMonf out. Lost to ERV. The score appears like he put up a little resistance.
was hurt and didn’t care
Wow. For real?
?
Cilic serving for the second set at 6-5
go sascha!!
Monster – Sascha is a monster 😀
Toe to toe with Marin!
what a win for sascha..!! so pleased….!
and he has an amazing draw now
way to go sascha..go on and win the whole thing!!
…match of the week so far, imo.
Goodness. Teenager wins in style! 76 76
7-1 in final set tie break…that’s impressive…
second set
That was amazing…
Sascha Z. v Berrer tomorrow.
Can he keep this up?
edit: Sascha v Berrer on Friday. it’s quarterfinals.
Montpellier Thursday:
Simon v Brown
Struff v Bemelmans
Paire v Matthieu
ERV v Millman
sascha can definitely get to the final. would be great to see him there. go sascha!
well that was apposite in terms of our discussion on the other thread..will be his first atp final if he can get there…
i really hope he can..
bottom half of the draw is in shambles
nope, on Friday
Very happy to see Sasha get a win against a top player. This will be a big boost to his confidence – hope he can keep it going to reach the final but pissed off I can’t watch any of the Montpelier matches. He reminds me a bit of Gilles Simon. Same relatively frail looking physique but able to pack a powerful punch and ability to make his opponent play one more shot in long rallies.