Marin Cilic and Grigor Dimitrov will kick off their Queen’s Club campaigns on Tuesday. Cilic is going up against Marinko Matosevic in first-round action while Dimitrov is contesting a second-round match with James Ward.
(9) Marin Cilic vs. Marinko Matosevic
Cilic and Matosevic will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers and for the second time this season when they collide in round one of the Aegon Championships on Tuesday. The head-to-head series is being swept by Cilic, who most recently prevailed 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo. He also got the best of Matosevic in five sets at the 2012 U.S. Open and in three sets in the first round of the very next Grand Slam at the 2013 Australian Open.
Matosevic finally bagged his first slam win at the French Open, where he beat Dustin Brown in four sets before getting clobbered by Andy Murray. The 60th-ranked Australian is a mediocre 12-14 so far this year. Cilic is back on the scene of one of his best tournaments. The 26th-ranked Croat captured the title in 2012 and finished runner-up to Murray last season. He also has two additional quarterfinal appearances on the grass courts of this London event. Cilic is also in fine form at the moment, with a 30-11 record to his credit for the 2014 campaign. All signs point to this being one-way traffic for the No. 9 seed.
Pick: Cilic in 2
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(4) Grigor Dimitrov vs. (WC) James Ward
Dimitrov will be looking to bounce back from a first-round French Open loss to Ivo Karlovic when he takes the court on Tuesday at Queen’s Club. The fourth-seeded Bulgarian is still in the midst of an impressive year, which includes titles in Acapulco and Bucharest, a quarterfinal performance at the Australian Open, and a semifinal showing in Rome.
Ward has a few things going for him heading into this one. He gained valuable experience during Davis Cup action earlier this season and he is comfortable on grass. The 155th-ranked Brit made a run to the semis of this tournament in 2011 and reached the second round of Wimbledon in 2012, when he lost to Mardy Fish in five sets. Ward has struggled to put together much success in ATP tournaments of late, but he at least took care of Blaz Rola 7-5, 6-4 on Monday. A well-rested Dimitrov will be a much tougher proposition.
Pick: Dimitrov in 2
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