A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN’S SECOND-ROUND MEN’S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 27th May 2014

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN'S SECOND-ROUND MEN'S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON

epa04228312 Fernando Verdasco of Spain returns to Michael Llodra of France during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 27 May 2014. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

Exactly half of the field has gone by the wayside (well, at least that will be the case when the crazy Steve Johnson vs. Laurent Lokoli match finally ends), leaving 64 men remaining in the Roland Garros singles draw. Second-round action takes place on Wednesday and Thursday, so let’s take a look at most of the matchups.

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Dominic Thiem: Does Thiem have a chance to win? Jurgen Melzer and Ernests Gulbis seem to think so. Does he have a chance to make a real name for himself? That is more realistic.

Leonardo Mayer vs. Teymuraz Gabashvili: This all-unseeded matchup is not going to make any headlines, but it could be a high-quality affair on clay.

Ivo Karlovic vs. (Q) Andreas Haider-Maurer: Karlovic played what had to have been one of the best all-court matches of his career in a straight-set upset of Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday.

(WC) Axel Michon vs. (19) Kevin Anderson: The little-known Frenchman took advantage of playing an American (Bradley Klahn) in the first round. Anderson will not be so generous.

(32) Andreas Seppi vs. Juan Monaco: This is simply a great clay-court matchup between two well-respected veterans.

(Q) Simone Bolelli vs. (5) David Ferrer: A relatively resurgent Bolelli has done extremely well to qualify for the main draw and advance one round. However, this should be one-way traffic for Ferrer.

David Ferrer – EPA/CAROLINE BLUMBERG

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Adrian Mannarino: Garcia-Lopez is a superior talent, but it’s always hard to follow up a monumental win with another stellar performance.

Donald Young vs. (26) Feliciano Lopez: A clay-court match between a Spaniard and an American is generally a foregone conclusion. Not so with Lopez. With Stan Wawrinka out of this section, opportunities abound for these two men.

(23) Gael Monfils vs. Jan-Lennard Struff: Monfils showed off his dance moves prior to the tournament in a fun-loving contest vs. Lokoli. For the most part, though, he was all business in round one vs. Victor Hanescu.

Thomaz Bellucci vs. (14) Fabio Fognini: Bellucci has been slumping. If Fognini has his mind right (you never know), this should be a rout.

(12) Richard Gasquet vs. Carlos Berlocq: Gasquet is going from one extreme to the other in terms of opponents. First he faced Bernard Tomic, not exactly renowned for his fighting spirit. Berlocq, on the other hand, is the ultimate warrior on the court.

(28) Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Denis Istomin: Kohlschreiber is coming off a title in Munich, where his win over Karlovic in the final is looking better and better by the minute.

Marinko Matosevic vs. (7) Andy Murray: He did it! It took him 13 tries, but Matosevic finally won a main-draw match at a Grand Slam. His reward? A date with two-time major champion Murray.

(6) Tomas Berdych vs. Aleksandr Nedovyesov: It was impossible to tell if Berdych played well in his first match because all anyone could look at was his shirt. A straight-set win, however, is an encouraging start.

Benoit Paire vs. (27) Roberto Bautista Agut: Paire’s reward for winning just his second match since the Australian Open? Another match against none other than arch-nemesis Bautista Agut. Paire is 0-5 in the head-to-head series and 1-11 in total sets vs. RBA.

(17) Tommy Robredo vs. Kenny De Schepper: KDS got a first-set retirement from Albert Montanes, who suffered a nasty ankle injury. He would need another miracle to get past Robredo on clay.

Mikhail Kukushkin vs. (10) John Isner: Kukushkin denied an Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut rematch by taking out the Frenchman in round one. A reporter, thinking Mahut had won, promptly congratulated the marathon man at the beginning of his press conference. LOL.

(15) Mikhail Youzhny vs. Radek Stepanek: Both veterans came back from two sets down to win their opening-round matches. The run will continue for one of them.

(Q) Facundo Bagnis vs. (18) Ernests Gulbis: How was that for a Grand Slam main draw debut? Bagnis saved a match point before outlasting Julien Benneteau 18-16 in the fifth. Meanwhile, an in-form Gulbis is coming off a title in Nice.

(31) Dmitry Tursunov vs. Sam Querrey: This is matchup that should be contested on American hard courts and American hard courts only. Someone is gonna win, but it’s not gonna be pretty on clay.

(Q) Deigo Sebastian Schwartzman vs. (4) Roger Federer: It can’t get more routine than Federer’s first-round disposal of Lukas Lacko. Actually, looking at this matchup…maybe it can.

(8) Milos Raonic vs. Jiri Vesely: Vesely played another borderline giant (Lukas Rosol) in the first round. Wednesday’s opponent will not be as fun to face.

Alejandro Gonzalez vs. (29) Gilles Simon: Simon has looked like a different player ever since giving Nadal a stern test in Rome. On clay, though, Gonzalez at least should be able to make it interesting.

(20) Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. Marcel Granollers: Kei Nishikori has already vacated this section of the draw. The winner of this one will have a great chance of reaching at least the fourth round.

Robin Haase vs. Martin Klizan: Nishikori’s ouster grabbed the headlines, but Klizan deserves some of the spotlight. He has been in stellar form this season and he played great on Monday.

(13) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Jurgen Melzer: Melzer tweeted after Thiem’s first-round win that he thinks his fellow Austrian has a good shot vs. Nadal. But Melzer should stay focused on himself, because he really does have a good shot at the third round.

Jarkko Nieminen vs. (22) Jerzy Janowicz: He did it! Janowicz won a match! His first-round victory was his first since the Rotterdam second round back in February. Unfortunately for the Pole, Nieminen is a lot tougher than Victor Estrella Burgos.

Jeremy Chardy vs. (2) Novak Djokovic: Chardy pulled off a recent second-round upset, sending Federer packing from Rome. Don’t count on something similar taking place this time around. But the big-hitting Frenchman should make it entertaining.

Topics: French Open, Ricky Dimon, Roland Garros, Sports, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

May 27, 2014 at 8:59 pm

A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN’S SECOND-ROUND MEN’S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/cj7vCXbBwd @rolandgarros #RG14 #tennis
RD_Tennistalk says:

May 27, 2014 at 9:03 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN’S SECOND-ROUND MEN’S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/cj7vCXbBwd @rolandg…