Rome R2 previews and predictions: Thiem vs. Fucsovics, Tsitsipas vs. Cilic

Dominic Thiem takes the court on Wednesday afternoon against Marton Fucsovics as the Rome Masters second round wraps up. Monte-Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and Marin Cilic will also be in action on Wednesday.

(4) Dominic Thiem vs. Marton Fucsovics

U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem came back last week in Madrid after a six-week layoff, his first clay event of the season. If there were questions about his match fitness, he answered them. Thiem didn’t display much in the way of rust; he made his way to the semifinals, where he was dispatched by eventual champion Alexander Zverev.

Marton Fucsovics, on the other had, hadn’t won a match since the second round in Miami coming into this week–a startling contrast to the start of the season, where he made the final in Rotterdam and the quarters in Doha and Dubai. He secured a win over Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round, but running into an in-form Thiem in the second round probably means that his run stops there this week.

Cheryl pick: Thiem in 2

Ricky pick: Thiem in 2

(5) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Marin Cilic

The in-form player of the European clay swing so far this season is Stefanos Tsitsipas. He snagged his first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo and followed that win up with a run to the final in Barcelona. He put in a valiant effort against the hometown Barca hero Rafael Nadal, but it was the Spaniard who prevailed in the end.

Tsitsipas faltered a bit in Madrid, where he lost in the third round to Casper Ruud–but that may have been as much fatigue as anything else. It was an upset, given Tsitispas’ form going into the event, but Ruud played lights-out tennis all tournament and made it all the way to the semis.

Former world No. 3 and current world No. 43 Marin Cilic had a solid run to the semis in Estoril a couple of weeks ago. The Croat seems to be slowly finding a bit of the form that saw him to the U.S. Open title back in 2014. Clay isn’t Cilic’s favored surface, but he has won a couple of clay events over the years, and he’s certainly no stranger to the terre battue.

Tsitsipas must be considered the heavy favorite in their second-round match, but Cilic is capable of playing good enough tennis to test the Greek. Although Tsitsipas should still win in straight sets, don’t be surprised if one of them is fairly competitive.

Cheryl pick: Tsitsipas in 2

Ricky pick: Tsitsipas in 2