Seeds Francisco Cerundolo and Tallon Griekspoor may have tough opening matches on their hands at the Rome Masters on Friday. They are going up against Alejandro Tabilo and Alexander Blockx, respectively.
Alejandro Tabilo vs. (25) Francisco Cerundolo
Tabilo is on a nice run heading into second-round action at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Friday. The 35th-ranked Chilean is coming off a title at last week’s stacked Aix-en-Provence Challenger and he destroyed Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday. Tabilo’s clay-court exploits in 2026 also include a runner-up performance at the Rio de Janiero ATP 500.
Up next for the left-hander on Friday is a fourth showdown against Cerundolo, who leads the head-to-head series 2-1. However, both of Cerundolo’s wins came at least five years ago at the Challenger level before Tabilo scored a 6-4, 6-1 victory on the red clay of Cordoba in 2022. Cerundolo has been solid but unspectacular on the European clay-court swing, with a second-round result in Monte-Carlo, a quarterfinal effort in Barcelona, and a fourth-round showing in Madrid. The 27th-ranked Argentine could be on upset alert against an in-form opponent who reached the Rome semifinals in 2024.
Pick: Tabilo in 3
(29) Tallon Griekspoor vs. Alexander Blockx
Blockx is surging up the rankings and has a chance to be seeded at Roland Garros if he wins two more matches in Rome. The 21-year-old has climbed to 36th in the world thanks to a 10-4 record on the main tour this season, which includes a breakthrough semifinal result at the Rome Masters. Blockx continued his outstanding form with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Italian wild card Federico Cina on Wednesday.
Griekspoor can end his opponent’s hopes for a French Open seed on Friday, but the Dutchman has to be considered the underdog in this matchup even though he is higher ranked. The injury-plagued world No. 31 is a dreadful 1-4 on clay since retiring in the Dubai final against Daniil Medvedev. Blockx also has the advantage of having already played — and won — a match in Rome, so the Belgian really should win this one without too much trouble.
Pick: Blockx in 2
WWW?
Bit of a tricky match to call, Cerundolo in 2, 6-4, 6-2
Blockx is likely pretty tired now after his deep run in Madrid and did not look at his best in R1 vs. Cina dropping a set yesterday, on very little rest he likely won’t have his best stuff today, on the other hand Griekspoor is very well rested, Griekspoor in 2, 7-5, 6-3.
Excellent call on Cerundolo there, Tennishead. And wow, a bagel… Tired Tabilo?
Blockx just scraped it and hopefully will get more rest.
Tien looked good last match!
Tennishead or d head
Tabilo in 3
X in 2/3
Now, now, kiddos. Be nice. It’s just pro tennis, played by people with monomanic dedication to their sport and overloaded schedules, way more cosmic radiation exposure than the average Joe due to constant air travel, tiny to non-existent holiday breaks, death threats and abuse on social media, distorted social lives, constant dislocation, high risk of burnout and injury, etc, which means they can have bad days that are beyond anyone outside their circle to predict, which can null and void any theories of who “should” win without notice…
And if you’re gonna use that word, you should actually picture it first, literally. That might then of course reduce your usage of that word.🎻. 🌭😳
And now, more tennis.🎾
Trolling, flaming and name calling is classless, weak and dumb, and has no place here where people come to talk tennis in a civil and respectful manner.
Tennishead, Tennishead. Aren’t you often insulting Ricky on here too over his picks? Maybe you too could be a bit more civil. Wouldn’t hurt now. It’s much nicer when everyone is friendly.🌞
Of course, I’m only an old fogey from last century with kind of outdated values.😋
I have an idea that usually works well for teenagers. It’s like this. We all know life can be super frustrating and other people annoy us even if we try to be like the Dalai Lama, which most of us don’t. And bottling up emotions is unsustainable, and/or leads to either stomach ulcers or destructive volcanic eruptions. Research has actually shown that swearing lowers stress levels when people are suffering physical pain. So it does have a use. But the insults usually refer to genitalia, intercourse or excrement, and are usually boring because so few, so often repeated. You can invent your own alternatives — “barnacle” is a fun one, but Roget’s Thesaurus is a good resource — and also check out these helpful sites:
http://petelevin.com/shakespeare.htm
https://insultedbyshakespeare.com/
That way you people can relieve your frustrations by insulting each other on a regular basis in a way that will make everyone laugh, and compete with each other for creative invective. And I’m happy to join in with the insults.
To it, my dearies.😜
Or this is just off the mark.
? Wheres the tennis discussion
In between the insults and trolling somewhere.