After clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking, Rafael Nadal will continue his Paris campaign when he goes up against Pablo Cuevas in the Paris third round on Thursday. Dominic Thiem and Fernando Verdasco are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Pablo Cuevas
The year-end No. 1 ranking has been clinched. Nadal locked it up for the fourth time in his illustrious career when he defeated Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday. The top-seeded Spaniard is 66-10 this season with two Grand Slam titles and four other winners’ trophies (including two at Masters 1000 tournaments) plus a runner-up performance at the Australian Open. He is 17-0 in his last 17 matches against opponents other than Roger Federer.
It is safe to say that Nadal is not facing Federer on Thursday; not even close. Cuevas had not won a single match since the French Open prior to his arrival in Paris, a brutal stretch that saw him compile an 0-10 record. Out of absolutely nowhere, the 36th-ranked Uruguayan has picked up victories this week over Karen Khachanov (6-4, 6-2) and Albert Ramos-Vinolas (6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-2). Cuevas is 1-3 lifetime against Nadal with a clay-court upset in last year’s Rio de Janeiro semifinals. With Nadal in stellar form and the underdog nothing short of hopeless over the last five months, another upset will not be taking place.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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(5) Dominic Thiem vs. Fernando Verdasco
Thiem and Verdasco will be going head-to-head for just the second time in their careers on Thursday. Their only previous encounter came two years ago at Wimbledon, where Verdasco prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. The Spaniard is a bigger underdog now according to the rankings (No. 39 to No. 6), but current form suggests otherwise. Thiem, as usual, has been a borderline disaster since the end of the clay-court swing. The 24-year-old Austrian is 8-9 in his last 17 tournament matches, but he at least managed to hold off lucky loser Peter Gojowyczk 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 on Tuesday.
Verdasco is coming off a semifinal performance last week in Stockholm and so far in Paris he has taken out Andrey Rublev and Kevin Anderson. The 33-year-old sent Rublev packing for the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan with a 7-6(1), 7-6(6) victory and he eliminated Anderson from World Tour Finals contention by getting the job done 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. This is a good opportunity for a confident Verdasco against a struggling opponent who has admitted that indoor hard courts are a rough surface for his game.
Pick: Verdasco in 3
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WWW?
Nando in three Rafa in two losing 5-7 games
Thiem in 3, Rafa in 2
Thiem?!?!?
Verdasco continues to amaze…plays with the determination of Ferrer….gotta love him!
Love it when this Verdasco shows up!! We need this version of him more often!!
What happen to Thiem? Why is he losing early in so many HC tournaments? Is he carrying some injuries or is he simply feeling the fatigue after a long season?
Thiem is just not good indoors. He is amazing on clay, okay on outdoor hard courts, and pretty much bad everywhere else.
Thiem did mention that losing to DelPo at the USO after being 2 sets up affected him very badly mentally.
Looks like a Nadal v/s Delpo and Pouille v/s Cilic semi http://www.138mph.com/tennis-will-del-potro-take-out-rafa-nadal-paris-masters-semifinals-revealed/
Keep your mind focused, remain confident, stay strong and fight bravely, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNo3Lh4WsAAb4p0.jpg
What a fantastic run Benneteau is having on his last showing in Paris, how amazing would be if he could go far there.
Seems like Dimitrov imploded against Isner when serving for the match, what a pity, really aprecciate his game, but he has to work on his second serve on the off season, it’s a big weakness.
Not surprised about Thiem going home, he has a long way to adjust his game to hardcourts, to unidimensional right now.
The way Nadal is playing, I think Cuevas will send him packing. I think he winning two RR matches at the WTF will be a big achievement already. Luckily for him, he has already secured the YE no.1 ranking; it looks like he’s running on low energy at this end of season.
I agree about Rafa losing this match. He had the early break in the second set and was broken and now he’s just not hitting his shots cleanly.
It’s frustrating to see Rafa give back the break when he was in control of the match. Maybe after clinching the year end #1, he just wants to get ready for WTF.
Rafa is really giving away this tb. Unbelievable.
Another missed volley from Rafa. I just cannot believe what I am seeing.
I am done watching this. Absolutely awful from Rafa, just giving away the tb and the second set to a guy who has been on a losing streak.
Oh great. Now Rafa is getting his knee taped. He needs to get out of there.
This has always been the trouble with Bercy. Most of the players are just plain exhausted, many of them nursing injuries, some with hidden agendas (e.g saving themselves for the O2, Davis Cup etc.)
Such horrible tennis from the world no.1!
Those who wish for Rafa to lose early here may have their wish fulfilled. The way he’s playing, the WTF title is also looking unlikely.
He has himself to blame, when he’s having the upper hand, he just lost his focus, and now he has his knee taped up; if your knee is not ok, then all the more hurry up and wins the match quickly! You’re not doing your knee any favor playing like this!
If he wins today, he should withdraw. Its like the same mistake that Fed did in Montreal. Also, if he cant last beyond 1 hour 45 minute match, he should pull out from WTF.
Cuevas came into this event with a double digit losing streak. He hadn’t won a match since the French Open. The French. Open. #what
P. Cuevas is not playing bad but Rafa might win.
S**t 🙁
Rafa has never been comfortable at this tournament – one of the reasons he has has skipped it so often. Even if he gets past Cuevos delpo is waiting in the wings and has looked impressive so far this week.
He just broke.
The court and the ball just give the impression of club tennis, not up to Rafa’s game.
The way this match is going, poor Cilic and Agut don’t need to play their match!
Shanghai and Basel are surplus to requirements. The season should end after the USO no WTF either. The players bodies need to recover.
I meant Basel and Paris and all the tournaments after the USO are not necessary.
nobody stops players from planning well. They can skip some tourneys.
No, most tournaments are mandatory and they count too many towards the rankings so they have to play to maintain their ranking.
luckystar, what do you think of the ball?
I don’t know about the ball, but Rafa is playing lousy tennis from his first match. I mean how can you lost your serve so easily once you’re a set and a break ahead? It’s either he’s too complacent or he has no idea how to play his opponents, but he’s leading because he just a better player than his opponents that they still couldn’t match him even when he’s playing horribly.
I hope Rafa wins this match and then withdraws. His knee needs rest and recovery.
Both are serving horribly this third set. The quality of the match has gone downhill, more errors than anything else.
Again lucky, my question from the beginning of this tournament: does he really want to win Paris?
Eugene, you should ask him, why ask me??
It’s a rhetorical question. I mean I understand he played both Montreal and Cinci to be ready form USO and then Beijing and Shanghai playing the momentum and earning points to end year N.1 But here… is it worth the risk?