Rome R1 previews and picks: Tsonga vs. Dolgopolov, Fognini vs. Rosol

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Alexandr Dolgopolov are set for a blockbuster first-round showdown on Monday in Rome. Fabio Fognini and Lukas Rosol are also kicking off their campaigns.

Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. (11) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Tsonga and Dolgopolov will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers and for the first time in more than two years when they collide in round one of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Monday. Dolgopolov leads the head-to-head series 3-2, including 1-0 on clay. They most recently faced each other at the 2012 Madrid Masters, with the Ukrainian prevailing 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(2). Dolgopolov has won three of their last four encounters dating back to the start of the 2011 season.

Based on current form, Tsonga will be hard-pressed to turn the tide. Rome’s No. 11 seed is a modest 15-9 for his 2014 campaign with no titles and only three tournaments in which he has reached at least the quarterfinals. He is coming off a second-round Madrid loss to Santiago Giraldo. Dolgopolov, on the other hand, has a semifinal showing in Indian Wells among his 20 match victories this season. The world No. 22 also finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal on the clay courts of Rio de Janeiro, but he is just 2-3 during the current clay-court swing following a second-round Madrid loss to Ernests Gulbis. The surface should also help Dolgopolov, who is simply far more confident than his opponent at the moment.

Pick: Dolgopolov in 2

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(13) Fabio Fognini vs. Lukas Rosol

Fognini and Rosol will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they clash on Monday. Their only previous meeting came last spring at the French Open, where Fognini scored a 6-2, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-1 victory. Rosol would obviously prefer to contest this matchup on grass or a fast hard court, but his clay-court game cannot be underestimated. Both of the Czech’s ATP finals have come on the red stuff; last year in Bucharest (won the title) and again this year at the same event (lost to Grigor Dimitrov). Rosol is coming off a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Jeremy Chardy in the Madrid opening round.

Although he can be one of the best players on tour–especially on clay–when he is interested in doing so, Fognini has been as unpredictable as ever of late. The 15th-ranked Italian captured the Vina del Mar title and finished runner-up in Buenos Aires and in Munich, but he suffered a bad loss to Martin Klizan in the Munich final. He also failed to win a game in Barcelona before retiring against Giraldo and he lost his Madrid opener to Dolgopolov. Fognini may not be consistent enough to win this in straightforward fashion, but he should be able to make it too much of clay-court baseline battle for Rosol’s liking.

Pick: Fognini in 3

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