Rome R2 previews and picks: Simon vs. Thiem, Dimitrov vs. Fognini

Gilles Simon and Dominic Thiem will be a part of second-round action on Wednesday in Rome. Grigor Dimitrov and Fabio Fognini are also aiming for a place in the last 16.

Dominic Thiem vs. (12) Gilles Simon

Simon and Thiem will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers when they clash in round two of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday. They faced each other on three occasions in a span of six months last year, with Simon taking two of those three encounters. Thiem prevailed 7-6(5), 6-2 in Indian Wells before the Frenchman won their lone clay-court meeting 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in Nice. The proverbial rubber match went Simon’s way via a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 decision at the Rogers Cup.

Both players did well on Monday to book their spots in the second round. Simon recovered from a set and a break deficit to beat Jack Sock 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3. The world No. 12 is now an impressive 20-9 on the year. Thiem went up against Italian in hostile territory but stayed composed en route to a 7-6(4), 7-6(5) victory over Simone Bolelli. The 49th-ranked Austrian has been up and down in 2015, but he has won seven of his last 11 matches dating back to the start of Miami. Clay actually favors Thiem in this matchup, but Simon will likely make too many balls and ultimately break his opponent down–like he did with Sock.

Pick: Simon in 3

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Fabio Fognini vs. (10) Grigor Dimitrov

Dimitrov and Fognini will be meeting for the fifth time in their careers on Wednesday. More interestingly than that, they will play each other in the second round of all three clay-court Masters 1000 events in 2015. That’s right; they also squared off in the last 32 of both Monte-Carlo and Madrid. Dimitrov prevailed each time (6-3, 6-4 in Monte-Carlo and 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in Madrid) to improved to 3-1 in the overall head-to-head series against Fognini.

Neither man had too much trouble making yet another second-round encounter become a reality. Fognini is generally awful in Rome, perhaps due to the pressure of expectations from Italian fans, but he fought past Steve Johnson 7-6(0), 6-3 in his opener. Dimitrov defeated Jerzy Janowicz 6-3, 7-6(4) on Monday. Fognini is still 4-7 lifetime in Rome and 6-8 in his last 14 matches, whereas Dimitrov reached the quarterfinals in Monte-Carlo, Istanbul, and Madrid. All signs point to a more confident Bulgarian taking care of business in this one.

Pick: Dimitrov in 2

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