Novak Djokovic will go up against Marin Cilic in the Paris quarterfinals on Friday. A more unlikely showdown is an all-American affair between Jack Sock and John Isner, who won the Shanghai doubles title together.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (9) Marin Cilic
It will be a potential preview of a World Tour Finals matchup when Djokovic and Cilic collide in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Masters on Friday. Cilic became the seventh player in qualify for London when he defeated fellow contender David Goffin 6-3, 7-6(9) during third-round action on Thursday. The 10th-ranked Croat was almost an afterthought for the year-end championship prior to the hard-court summer, but he captured the Cincinnati title and also triumphed last week in Basel. Cilic preceded his win over Goffin by beating countryman Ivo Karlovic 7-6(7), 6-2.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is still in a race of his own–for the year-end No. 1 ranking. The Serb would lose that spot if he fails to reach the Paris final and Andy Murray wins the title, or if he falls to Cilic and Murray advances to the final. Djokovic has cooled off considerably since winning the French Open, but he has at least managed to scrape past Gilles Muller (6-3, 6-4) and Grigor Dimitrov (4-6, 6-2, 6-3) so far this week. The court surface is relatively slow, so the three-time defending champion should be able to force Cilic into plenty of extended baseline rallies–in which Djokovic will own a clear advantage.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
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John Isner vs. Jack Sock
Fellow Americans, Davis Cup teammates, and recent Shanghai doubles champions will be facing each other on Friday, when Sock and Isner battle for a relatively surprising spot in the semis. Isner leads the head-to-head series 4-3, but Sock has won their last two encounters and three of their last four. They most recently met this spring on the red clay of Houston, where Sock advanced through a semifinal showdown via a 7-6(4), 6-3 decision. The world No. 24 prevailed by an almost identical 7-6(5), 6-3 scoreline last fall in Basel, which marked their only previous indoor contest.
A red-hot Sock has been picking up wins left and right in both singles and doubles. He reached the Shanghai quarters in addition to capturing the doubles title with Isner, and he finished runner-up to Juan Martin Del Potro in Basel. So far in Paris, Sock has taken out Philipp Kohlschreiber, Dominic Thiem, and Richard Gasquet. Isner has struggled this year and finds himself down at 27th in the rankings, but he is wrapping up 2016 with another stellar performance at what has to be considered one of his favorite non-U.S. tournaments. The 6’10” American is through to the quarterfinals for a third time (he went all the way to the semis in 2011) following defeats of Mischa Zverev, David Ferrer, and Jan-Lennard Struff. Isner should be able to serve his way to a set, but a clear edge in current form goes to Sock.
Pick: Sock in 3
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who ya got?
Nole in three only because so far this week’s Cilic is not last week’s Cilic.
In the other match, I’ll take the American to win.
which america? they are both amercian lol
Damn, you’re on to me.
The Pox on Tennis.
Can Marin finally beat Novak? I think so. Cilic in three DALLEZ MARIN. And Sock and Isner should be a good one. Sock in three
Agree with Hawkeye on Cilic. After last week I had him beating Novak but now I have Novak beating him. A slightly slower court part of the reason he’s not looking as good?
Sock to beat Isner.
Partly. But he’s leaning back to his less consistent error prone ways.
Cilic clinched WTF berth, he will likely have a mental letdown while Novak is still going for overall #1. Novak in 3
Sock is playing great tennis, and he should have easy holds against Isner. Just needs to get a few games off serve in there somewhere. Sock in 2
Nole ole in 2.
And the American. Not sure which.
Cilic in 3…he’s hungry!…and the Big Dawg in 3.
Love the Americans, am leaning towards Isner of course. Jack has to get tired sometime, right?
If Cilic wins, Jack has a better chance and if Novak wins, John does.
Murray will be beat Berdych and his chances of London will be gone.
Raonic/Tsonga should be a good one.
Novak 14-0 versus Cilic. Pretty impressive considering Cilic isn’t some scrub.
Yeah and even in 2014 at Indian Wells when Marin was beginning to play like a GS winning monster, he won the first set off Nole – I remember that match well. At FO 2014, it was a 5 set thriller, and Wimbledon that year vs Cilic was tough. But I haven’t worried about Cilic v Nole for a couple years. However, I can see Marin beating Nole right now. Nole needs to step it up and win in 2!
Cilic has Davis Cup on his mind and he could be thinking how pumped beating Nole right now would make him feel going into DC v Delpo. I don’t see Marin going for a big win in London – maybe a RR win or two.
Nah Marin will want to do right by his second chance at the world tour finals after his unfortunate injury that caused him to play like garbage in London when he qualified in 2014. He is in such a zone. I think he is gonna make some noise at the O2 especially if he beats Djoker here and maybe goes even further to the final with a winnable semifinal against Sock or Isner if he gets past the Djoker.
Cilic’s head not at the right place most of the time; not only vs Djoko but also vs Fed and Murray. He’s like Verdasco, has the game but not the mindset. When his head is properly screwed on, he won his USO2014 title, Cincy Masters and first 500 title at Basel last week.
Sock in 3, Djoker in 3
Cilic in 2 or 3; Sock to beat Isner too.
Lol luckystar, so decisive in your picks
Can’t reach a decision about who to pick between Djokovic and Cilic. The former has the strongest motivation but has been seen to stumble if there is a glittering prize at stake. The latter could take advantage of this tendency. Djokovic will need to up the intensity to ward off Cilic. Hugging won’t get the job done.
#eeneymeenyminormoe
wish auto-correct would keep out of this 🙁
I typed eeneymeenymineymoe
Sock will outlast Isner in 3
Sock in two tiebreaks.
Djokovic in three, just a bad matchup for Cilic.
Cilic not playing as well this week,was lucky to beat Goffin who made too many errors at crucial times.
Isner is a pox on tennis.
Hard to break him and he’s rarely good enough to break anyone’s serve.
Same for Ivo.
The two need to just go away and stop ruining tennis.
#TieBreakFest
Tiebreak 1st set.
Big surprise.
that lob was unreal
Isner grabbing some much needed confidence here in Paris and some good momentum heading into 2017. Almost through to semis. Just needs to keep holding.
Isner has just SEVEN career wins against Top 20 players without a TIEBREAK over the last TEN years.
He has just TWO such career wins against Top 10 players.
I’ve never seen John Isner so angry than about being called for a foot fault and he can’t let it go. That was rough. Looked like a real ff, tho.
This is going 3 sets. #oleoleole
Was it worse than Roddick’s wrong complaint?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWss8qXTjJk
hahahaha Roddick does it best 😀
Jack Sock with the pieman paunch going on. Hope he does something about that by AO.
Pox wins.
Congrats to Me. Again.