Carlos Alcaraz will continue his Wimbledon campaign when he takes the court against Nicolas Jarry during third-round action on Saturday. Tommy Paul and Jiri Lehecka are also bidding for a place in the second week.
(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (25) Nicolas Jarry
Alcaraz’s grass-court summer could not be going any better so far. The top-ranked Spaniard won his lone Wimbledon warmup tournament at Queen’s Club and he has opened at the All-England Club with straight-set victories over Jeremy Chardy and Alexandre Muller. Alcaraz is now 11-2 lifetime on grass with losses only to Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner.
Up next for the 20-year-old on Saturday is a second meeting with Jarry, who pushed Alcaraz hard for a while in the Rio de Janeiro semifinals at the beginning of this season but lost 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-0. The best year of Jarry’s career has continued with titles in Santiago and Geneva plus a fourth-round performance at Roland Garros. Converting nicely to grass, the world No. 28 has advanced this fortnight by beating both Marco Cecchinato and Jason Kubler in four sets. Jarry is a tough opponent, but Alcaraz is in better physical–and mental–shape than he was in Rio so this may not be quite as competitive.
Pick: Alcaraz in 3
Jiri Lehecka vs. (16) Tommy Paul
Paul and Lehecka will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Friday. Although he is the essence of an all-court player, Paul recently declared that grass is “the most fun surface to play on.” And why not? The 15th-ranked American reached the Wimbledon fourth round last year and is coming off a runner-up performance in Eastbourne.
Having lost to Francisco Cerundolo in Eastbourne and also a week earlier at Queen’s Club, Paul will be happy to see Lehecka on the other side of the net. It would have been Cerundolo again, but Lehecka annihilated the Argentine 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 on Thursday. That was preceded by a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 rout of Sebastian Ofner, so the 21-year-old Czech has to be extremely confident. Nonetheless, this is just Lehecka’s second trip past round two of a Grand Slam and he has still played only nine grass-court matches in his career (4-5 record). This will likely be a long match with plenty of pressure-packed moments, in which cases Paul should have the slight edge.
Pick: Paul in 5
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Alcaraz in 4
Lehecka in 5
Jarry reminded me all too much of Isner. Enough said.
C’mon Carlos! Handsome next, playing well, looks like, though I didn’t seee the match.