Familiar foes Daniil Medvedev and Grigor Dimitrov will meet again on Wednesday, this time in round two of the Paris Masters. Meanwhile, Holger Rune continues his Nitto ATP Finals bid against qualifier Dominic Thiem.
Grigor Dimitrov vs. (3) Daniil Medvedev
It’s deja vu all over again, as Dimitrov beat Lorenzo Musetti in round one of last week’s ATP 500 in Vienna and then faced Medvedev in round two. The story is the exact same at the Rolex Paris Masters following Dimitrov’s 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3 victory over the Italian on Monday evening. Wednesday marks the ninth overall encounter between Medvedev and Dimitrov, with the Russian leading the head-to-head series 6-2. He has won three in a row (two this season) and six of their last seven matchups.
Of course, Dimitrov cannot be discounted. The 17th-ranked Bulgarian pushed Medvedev to three sets in Vienna, has been playing arguably the most consistent tennis of his career dating back to late May, and already has a match under his belt in Paris whereas his opponent got a first-round bye. Medvedev is also red hot right now and he generally fares extremely well at the tail end of the year, so the world No. 3 will likely find a way to advance–but it almost certainly won’t be easy.
Pick: Medvedev in 3
(Q) Dominic Thiem vs. (6) Holger Rune
Rune currently occupies the eighth and final spot in the race to the Nitto ATP Finals, but Hubert Hurkacz remained hot on his trail with a three-set win over Sebastian Korda on Tuesday. Thus the pressure remains on for the seventh-ranked Dane, who advanced a few rounds in Basel last week but has mostly been in disastrous form since Wimbledon. Following his 6-3, 6-2 Basel semifinal loss to eventual champion Felix Auger-Aliassime, Rune is 4-9 in his last 13 matches.
Up first for the 20-year-old is Thiem, who saved a match point in his opening-round match against Stan Wawrinka on Monday before prevailing 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. The 30-year-old Austrian got crushed by Rune 6-2, 6-4 in their only previous encounter on the red clay of Monte-Carlo this spring, but that was when Rune was in awesome form. Although Thiem hasn’t improved much since then, Rune has taken a dive and that probably gives the underdog a real chance in this one. The 2020 U.S. Open champion should get a confidence boost from Monday’s result and this is a great opportunity for him to get back inside the top 100 prior to the end of this 2023 season.
Pick: Thiem in 3
who ya got?
Med in 2; Rune in 2.
My buddy Roman is on. Should be a great match.
Rune in 2. You have to believe this slump wont last much longer. There was signs of it in Basel and he like this tournament. Med in 2
Anyone that knows me, knows I don’t make predictions based on “unknowns”.
I can’t stand Rune and I don’t call Medvedev “Med” also.
Good to know.. I feel much better now
No one knows you, so it’s moot.