The tennis event at the Rio Olympics will get started on Saturday, when Marin Cilic and Grigor Dimitrov clash in an intriguing opener. First-round action is also featuring Gilles Simon and Borna Coric.
Grigor Dimitrov vs. (9) Marin Cilic
Cilic and Dimitrov will be squaring off for the third time in their careers when they help kick off Day 1 of tennis action at the Rio Olympics. The head-to-head series is tied up at 1-1, with Cilic prevailing 7-5, 7-5 two years ago in Brisbane before Dimitrov got the job done 7-6(3), 7-6(2) on the indoor hard courts of Paris last fall. It has only been downhill for the 34th-ranked Bulgarian since then, as his 2016 record stands at a disappointing 23-17. Dimitrov, who once peaked at eighth in the world during the summer of 2014, at least manage to pick up some semblance of momentum by reaching the Toronto quarterfinals last week.
Although Cilic is a similarly mediocre 24-16 for his 2016 campaign, he has posted quarterfinal results in Indian Wells and at Wimbledon. The 14th-ranked Croat is just 1-2 on hard courts this summer, having split a pair of Davis Cup singles rubbers against the United States before losing his Toronto opener in straight sets to compatriot Ivo Karlovic. This should be a competitive contest, but Cilic’s superior ability to win free points with first-strike tennis may be the difference in the pressure-packed moments.
Pick: Cilic in 3
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Borna Coric vs. (15) Gilles Simon
The Olympics could not be coming at a worse time for Simon, who is mired in a dreadful slump at the moment. In fact, his entire season has been a borderline disaster. The 31st-ranked Frenchman has won more than two matches at a tournament only twice, and not once since the Miami Masters in late March. Since advancing to round three at Roland Garros, Simon is 2-4 with a third-set bagel loss to Juan Martin Del Potro in Stuttgart and unceremonious setbacks at the hands of Kyle Edmund (Queen’s Club), Dimitrov (Wimbledon), and Thiago Monteiro (Gstaad).
Up first for the 15th seed in Rio on Saturday is a second career meeting with Coric. Simon benefited from home-court advantage in their only previous encounter and prevailed 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on the indoor hard courts of Marseille early last season. The 19-year-old Croat gained some recent momentum by winning the decisive Davis Cup rubber over American Jack Sock before advancing to the third round in Washington, D.C. (lost to eventual champion Gael Monfils) and the second round at the Rogers Cup (lost to eventual semifinalist Tomas Berdych). Coric should be able to find the win column once again after a baseline battle with Simon, whose normally rock-solid consistency has been surprisingly absent of late.
Pick: Coric in 3
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Coric and dimitrov in three