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

Written by: Staff on 29th May 2014

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

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

epa04224225 Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts during his first round match against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 25 May 2014. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

No matter that Warren Buffett does not offer $1 billion for a perfect French Open bracket like he does for the NCAA basketball tournament. Nobody would come close. Among those in the third round are Jack Sock, Dusan Lajovic, and Donald Young. Of course, usual suspects Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer are also still in it. Let’s take a look at the upcoming matchups.

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Leonardo Mayer: Vasek Pospisil as Nadal’s nearest seed was a joke. Dominic Thiem in the second round was no joke, but Nadal passed that test with flying colors. Mayer, who emerged from the Pospisil portion of the draw, is good on clay…but not good enough.

Jack Sock vs. Dusan Lajovic: The winner gets to play Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of a Grand Slam. High stakes, to put it mildly, for guys ranked outside the top 70 in the world.

Ivo Karlovic vs. (19) Kevin Anderson: Their most recent encounter was a real blockbuster, with Karlovic retiring down 15-40 in the second game of the match earlier this season in Delray Beach. Count on this lasting about…oh…four tiebeakers longer than that one.

(32) Andreas Seppi vs. (5) David Ferrer: Seppi’s draw has gone Santiago Giraldo, Juan Monaco, and now Ferrer. Can you get three more similar players? The problem for Seppi is that Ferrer is basically to Giraldo and Monaco what Coca-Cola is to Pepsi.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Donald Young: Who would have thunk it? There are three American men in the third round of the French Open AND they all have extremely winnable matches. In the words of famous Green Bay Packers’ head coach Vince Lombardi, “What the hell’s going on out here!?!?!”

(23) Gael Monfils vs. (14) Fabio Fognini: No, this is not a misprint. The rematch really is happening. Any novel written about their 2010 French Open encounter would make Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” seem like a quick read. For the sake of time and space, I’ll just tell you to visit YouTube and Google for a trip down Memory Lane.

(12) Richard Gasquet vs. (24) Fernando Verdasco: Gasquet has been a wounded warrior through two rounds. Verdasco is drama waiting to happen (he came back from two sets down on Thursday against Pablo Cuevas). Get your popcorn ready for this one.

(28) Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. (7) Andy Murray: Kohlschreiber is one of those guys who always beats people he is supposed to be, but never beats people to whom he is supposed to lose. With Murry back in fine form, the trend will likely continue.

(6) Tomas Berdych vs. (27) Roberto Bautista Agut: Berdych will attempt to win by distracting RBA with his flower-power shirt. RBA will attempt to win by blinding Berdych with his neon yellow attire. RBA’s tactic already worked once, as he upset Berdych two months ago in Indian Wells wearing the same outfit.

(17) Tommy Robredo vs. (10) John Isner: Isner has played five tiebreakers in two matches, but we’re still waiting for the inevitable five-set marathon. On paper, this matchup is a prime candidate for something like 12-10 or 16-14. But don’t worry, not 70-68.

Radek Stepanek vs. (18) Ernests Gulbis: Gulbis winning ATP finals? That happens all the time. Gulbis in the third round of Grand Slams? You almost never see that. This really is starting to look like a new Gulbis…and even the old Gulbis owned Stepanek (3-0 overall, 6-0 in sets).

(31) Dmitry Tursunov vs. (4) Roger Federer: Both men rock on Twitter. Unfortunately for Tursunov, the comparisons do not extend to the tennis court. Count on Federer improving to 5-0 in their head-to-head series.

(8) Milos Raonic vs. (29) Gilles Simon: Monfils says Roland Garros gives him wings. It sure gives something to its own, because the four best Frenchmen are playing above and beyond themselves this fortnight. This will be a phenomenal contrast in styles.

Marcel Granollers vs. Martin Klizan: No, this is not the Heilbronn Challenger. This is the French Open. And either Granollers or Klizan will be in the fourth round. Both men are coming off five-setters (Granollers vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov and Klizan vs. Robin Haase).

(13) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (22) Jerzy Janowicz: More than three months elapsed between wins for Janowicz (mid-February until the French Open first round). Only three days elapsed between his next two wins. This is an intriguing matchup between two big hitters who are suddenly emerging from prolonged slumps.

(25) Marin Cilic vs. (2) Novak Djokovic: Bad news for Cilic: Djokovic just destroyed Jeremy Chardy, who plays a similar style to that of the Croat. Worse news for Cilic: he is 0-8 lifetime against Djokovic. Worst news for Cilic: the only competitive one of the eight came back in 2008.

Topics: Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Donald Young, Dusan Lajovic, Ernests Gulbis, Fernando Verdasco, French Open, Gael Monfils, jack sock, Leonardo Mayer, milos raonic, Novak Djokovic, Paris, Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Roland Garros, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych

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10sBalls_com says:

May 29, 2014 at 6:04 pm

A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN’S THIRD-ROUND MEN’S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/3ra2BSQKbB @rogerfederer @rolandgarros
RD_Tennistalk says:

May 29, 2014 at 6:27 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN’S THIRD-ROUND MEN’S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/3ra2BSQKbB @rogerfede…
PCL1963 says:

May 29, 2014 at 6:39 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN’S THIRD-ROUND MEN’S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/3ra2BSQKbB @rogerfede…
RobbieDesj says:

May 29, 2014 at 6:51 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: A LOOK AT THE FRENCH OPEN’S THIRD-ROUND MEN’S MATCHES BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/3ra2BSQKbB @rogerfede…