It will be a preview of the upcoming Davis Cup final when Andy Murray goes up against David Goffin on Thursday in Paris. Novak Djokovic and Gilles Simon are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(16) David Goffin vs. (2) Andy Murray
A match that could decide the 2015 Davis Cup will be previewed during third-round action at the BNP Paribas Masters on Thursday. Murray and Goffin are set to square off for the second time in their careers, having previously faced each other last summer at Wimbledon. The Scot cruised 6-1, 6-4, 7-5, after which Goffin immediately went on a 25-match winning streak. Goffin has not really slowed down, as he is up to No. 16 in the world and has Belgium in the Davis Cup final (the Belgians will face Murray and visiting Great Britain starting Nov. 27). He kicked off his Paris campaign on Wednesday by hammering Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-2.
Murray opened with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 rout of Borna Coric. The world No. 3 is an awesome 65-11 for the season and will head into the World Tour Finals–which he confirmed he will play on Monday–as either the second or third seed. Although he is a disappointing 14-8 lifetime at this event with no trips past the quarterfinals, Murray should have an advantage over Goffin on an indoor hard court. The favorite will eventually hit Goffin off the court, but it will be far more difficult than it was against Coric.
Pick: Murray in 3
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(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (14) Gilles Simon
Djokovic and Simon will be meeting for the 10th time in their careers on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at 8-1 in favor of Djokovic, who has won eight in a row at the Frenchman’s expense since dropping their opener 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 on the indoor hard courts of Marseille in 2008. Nine of their 10 previous encounters have come on hard courts, with the only exception taking place last year at Wimbledon. They have not clashed since the 2014 Cincinnati Masters, where Djokovic got the job done 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Simon survived an all-French affair to punch his ticket to this one, holding off Benoit Paire 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 on Tuesday night. The world No. 15 is 43-23 for the year and a decent 9-4 this fall with a runner-up showing in Metz. Djokovic did not reach peak form in his Paris opener but did have to while taking out Thomaz Bellucci 7-5, 6-3. The top-ranked Serb has not lost prior to a final since the very first tournament of the season in Doha, so for many reasons it is impossible to like Simon’s chances.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 losing 8-10 games
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Kei is once again plagued with injury problems. He hasn’t looked that great recently. Good for Gasquet getting this win.
At least this is not as dire as the Murray/Goffin match. Goffin looked like he fell out of bed onto the court. People should ask for their money back. It was the most terrible matches I have ever seen.
must have been sick. Goffin never plays bad.
Nor pospisil. :eyeroll:
or tanked to get Murray overconfident
that must be the case…LOL… 🙂
we will soon find out….on clay
Another break of serve. 5:5
Hah! Simon breaks back against Novak to even it up in the second set. The crowd is loving it!
ALLEZ Gilles!!!
The trend continues:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTDkOvnXIAANjVK.png
Oh too bad. Novak breaks Simon right back I wanted to see this set go to a tb.
you may have been the only person wanting to see that match go on any longer
Yes, it was an ugly match, but it’s true that I wanted to see Simon get to a tb and push Novak even more.
fair point
WTA players will become jealous…these two steal the spotlight and will now be more talked about getting broken in one match than most of the WTA players… 🙂
Alize Lim is in Grigor’s box again
so this is why he broke up with Sharapova…
well she was still dating Chardy LONG after Dimitrov and Sharapova broke up
6-3 7-5 Djokovic
The whole 2nd set (including 2 parts I have already posted):
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTDnMSLWwAA05zC.png
I find Alize Lim cuter than Sharapova, good change Dimi
He’s doing pretty well for himself
Who’s Alize Lim? Where’s she from?
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliz%C3%A9_Lim
(I have never heard about her anything)
That’s a problem for us lot. You’re meant to keep eyes open and your ear to the ground 24/24hrs week in, week out. 😉
#ReutersIsNotKeepingUp
You know I never heard of Alize Lim. Is she Dimi’s new girlfriend? They already switched to Fed/Isner, so I may not get a chance to check out this person.
Inquiring minds want to know! 🙂
I just looked at some photos of her…she is very cute…maybe she is dating both Chardy and Dimy ATM and can’t make up her mind… 🙂 🙂
^LOL!
she dated Chardy until like a few days ago
Oh, I checked out that link. So she’s a tennis player. Dimi must like to only date women who are professional tennis players.
I wanted to see Ferrer/Dimi. That one was tied at 3-all when they switched to Fed/Isner.
I am following the score for Ferrer/Dimi. Still on serve at 5-all.
Fed and Isner still on serve. That’s no surprise.
Dimitrov took the 1st set 7-6(4).
bad by Ferrer
Too bad I couldn’t see it.
Whatever the reason for Goffin not showing up today it’s a pity Andy didn’t get a decent match under his belt. That’s two rounds he has sleepwalked his way through on the way to QF. It’s quite difficult to maintain focus when the other player is MIA. Gasquet has playing well so hopefully Andy will be match sharp for the SF – that is unless he wants to get to London early 😉
I bet Murray went straight to the practice court after the match. I wouldn’t write Gasquet off though by putting Muz in the SF yet, the match still has to be played..
Gasquet will win
I haven’t put him in the SFs yet. You weren’t concentrating on the space between the words at the end of my the final sentence 😉
Rooting for Richard but I’m thinking Murray wins in three.
After seeing how well Murray played against Goffin, I think he’s going to beat Gasquet. It could go 3 sets.
I thought Murray played well, despite Goffin playing so poorly. He truly did not show up. Gasquet will definitely give Murray a match.