World Tour Finals preview and prediction: Raonic vs. Monfils

It will be a battle between the walking wounded when Milos Raonic and Gael Monfils square off during Group B round-robin action at the World Tour Finals on Sunday night.

Monfils is leading the head-to-head series 3-2, but Raonic has won two of their three encounters this season. The Canadian got the job done 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and 7-5, 6-3 at the Indian Wells Masters before Monfils cruised 6-4, 6-4 this summer in Toronto. Their only previous indoor shown came back in 2011, when the Frenchman scored a 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3 victory in Stockholm.

Late last week it looked like Raonic would not even show up in London. The world No. 4 sustained a quadriceps injury during a BNP Paribas Masters quarterfinal win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and he was forced to give Andy Murray a walkover the next day. Raonic said he was “doubtful” for the year-end championship at his final Paris press conference, but earlier this week he assured he was “ready to go.” The Wimbledon runner-up is 50-15 this season with a title in Brisbane and additional runner-up performances in Indian Wells and at Queen’s Club.

A no-nonsense Monfils picked up the biggest title of his career in Washington, D.C. and parlayed that success into semifinal showings in Toronto and at the U.S. Open to go along with a quarterfinal performance at the Rio Olympics. The world No. 6 has cooled off significantly this fall and, like Raonic, is a major question mark for London because he did not play the Paris Masters as a result of a rib injury.

That was likely a precautionary move made by the oft-injured Monfils, whereas Raonic’s physical problems are certainly no joke. The court surface inside the O2 Arena is reportedly faster than it was in 2015, but it still won’t be fast enough for Raonic’s liking. At presumably less than 100 percent, he will likely have to play too many baseline rallies against Monfils.

Pick: Monfils in 3

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