Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Alexander Zverev are still alive and well at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, but No. 4 seed Dominic Thiem is out. Viktor Troicki upset the Austrian on Wednesday and will now go up against John Isner during third-round action. An all-French affair, meanwhile, pits Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon.
Picks
(10) Sam Querrey vs. (6) Grigor Dimitrov: World Tour Finals contenders have been falling by the wayside at the Shanghai Masters. Dimitrov and Querrey have survived so far, but one will be gone before the quarterfinals. Querrey, most likely. Dimitrov in 3.
(16) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (3) Alexander Zverev: The third-round slate does not get any better than Zverev vs. Del Potro. And it should live up to expectations, too, because both big hitters are in stellar form. Zverev in 3.
(4) Marin Cilic vs. Steve Johnson: Cilic is like 100-2 lifetime against Americans. There is no reason to think that trend will end against Johnson. Cilic in 2.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Fabio Fognini: Nadal won in 54 minutes on Wednesday. By Nadal standards, that’s as fast as the 27-minute Bernard Tomic vs. Jarkko Nieminen match. Additional bad news for Fognini is that he is 0-4 in the last four installments of this head-to-head series. Nadal in 2.
(Q) Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. (2) Roger Federer: Simply completing this match would be a moral victory for Dolgopolov. He has played a ton of recent tennis his physical state–which is always an issue–has to be especially fragile right now. Moreover, two his four losses to Federer have ended in retirement. Federer in 2.
Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas: The man with a hyphen in either his first or last name will win. Ramos-Vinolas in 3.
Gilles Simon vs. Richard Gasquet: The Frenchman will win. Gasquet in 2.
Viktor Troicki vs. John Isner: Isner dropped the opening set of his tournament to Dusan Lajovic and has since won four in a row by scorelines of 7-6(5), 7-6(6), 7-6(2), and 7-6(9). That is nothing more than routine for the 6’10” American. Isner in 2.
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who ya got?
Great picks and analysis Ricky! keep it up! Ben,Stan, Todd, other experts and all other FAKES also, you experts really need to step up to keep up with Ricky (with deeper analysis)!lol My analysis is always deeper and lengthier than Ricky’s!Ha,ha,ha…Stan sometimes beats me (esp. in the non-tennis forum)!lol
Sam Querrey can win in 3 if he can serve & volley with precision without dropping his serve! Dimitrov was shaky and won by a whisker sized margin in a 3rd set tiebreaker. That does not evoke much confidence in Dimi. He may be still tired from the last few weeks exploits!
If Dimi can’t beat a short man (Harrison), then how do you think Dimi can beat a giant of a man in Querry!?lol
As Shanghai has a fast hard court, i give the edge to Querry. As Querry’s form is rapidly improving again after a small dip…he can upset Dimi (who is still shaky) if he finds his form back!
As both players are in form, the only way to differentiate them is by the decider. Going with the over 23 games!
Over with (16) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (3) Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas games.
Like the other picks as of now.
Experts, “who ya got?” or “What you got?” Answer any one ONLY!lol