World Tour Finals preview and prediction: Monfils vs. Thiem

Gael Monfils and Dominic Thiem find themselves in a borderline must-win situation as they head into the second day of Group B round-robin action at the World Tour Finals on Tuesday. Their only previous meeting came last year on the clay courts of Umag, where Thiem won a roller-coaster 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 affair. They were scheduled to square off in the third round of this summer’s Cincinnati Masters, but Monfils pulled out before the match started.

Injury issues have continued to be a problem for both men, with the sixth-ranked Frenchman withdrawing from the recent Paris Masters because of a rib issue. He moved perfectly in his London opener against Milos Raonic on Sunday night but still lost 6-3, 6-4. Monfils, the reigning Washington, D.C. champion and a U.S. Open semifinalist, is 44-16 for the season.

“I came here with not even a week of practice,” Monfils said after losing to the Canadian. “I came here with three, four days for real practice. To be honest, (I’m) a bit sore. I can feel it straightaway, so it’s not a good sign…. But I’m telling you, [Raonic] played very good.”

Thiem played great for a while in his opener against Novak Djokovic, to the extent that he took the first set off the four-time defending champion. In a microcosm of his season, however, the ninth-ranked Austrian ran out of gas in a 6-7(10), 6-0, 6-2 defeat. Thiem is a stellar 57-23 for the 2016 campaign, but he is a mere 9-11 in his last 20 matches dating back to Wimbledon.

Both Thiem and Monfils admitted after their opening-day losses that they are not 100 percent physically. While this may be a battle of the walking wounded, they each impressed at times on Sunday and neither one was hobbled by any specific issue. Djokovic’s defense ended up being way too much for Thiem’s offense, and Monfils’ similarly impressive athleticism may force the 23-year-old to play too many extended baseline rallies.

Pick: Monfils in 3

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