RICKY DIMON LOOKS AT MONTREAL TENNIS AND MAKES HIS PICKS / DONALD YOUNG QUALIFIES AND MORE TENNIS NEWS

Written by: Staff on 9th August 2015

RICKY DIMON LOOKS AT MONTREAL TENNIS AND MAKES HIS PICKS / DONALD YOUNG QUALIFIES AND MORE TENNIS NEWS

Gael Monfils of France in action during the first round match against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic at the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, Germany, 16 June 2015. EPA/Maja Hitij |

Monfils, Tsonga, and doubles headline Day 1 at the Rogers Cup

By Ricky Dimon

Even without Roger Federer on board at the Rogers Cup, the singles field is an awesome one. But don’t sleep on the doubles draw. It is one of the most intriguing you will ever see on the ATP World Tour.

Among the singles stars doing double duty in Montreal are Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nick Kyrgios, and Lleyton Hewitt–just to name a few.

Monfils and Tsonga are teaming up and will face Kyrgios and Hewitt in the first round. Djokovic is part of an all-Serb duo with Janko Tipsarevic. Murray is Leander Paes’ 101st doubles partner. Nadal will take the court with fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco against Berdych and Jack Sock.

The usual doubles suspects cannot be discounted, either. Bob and Mike Bryan are coming off consecutive hard-court titles in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, seeded second behind the Bryan brothers, finished runner up in the U.S. capital this past weekend. Among those also gunning for the Montreal title are Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna, Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares, and Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

Court 9 on Monday boasts an epic stretch of doubles showdowns. After Murray and Paes face Kevin Anderson and Jeremy Chardy, it will be Nadal-Verdasco vs. Berdych-Sock. The nightcap will feature three Serbs, as Djokovic and Tipsarevic will go up against Viktor Troicki and his partner Andreas Seppi.

As for singles action on Day 1, Monfils and Fabio Fognini will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers. The head-to-head series stands at 3-3 following another five-setter at last year’s French Open. Monfils, who had lost to Fognini in five at Roland Garros in 2010, got revenge in the form of a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 victory. Their most recent hard-court encounter came at the 2014 Indian Wells Masters, where Fognini prevailed 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

Neither man has played on a hard court since Miami. Monfils appeared in one clay-court event after Wimbledon, losing to a red-hot Dominic Thiem in the Umag semifinals. The 15th-ranked Frenchman is a stellar 30-13 on the season, which includes a runner-up finish in Marseille and a semifinal showing in Monte-Carlo.

Fognini played three tournaments on clay after leaving the All-England Club and compiled an overall record of 7-3. A runner-up to Rafael Nadal in Hamburg, the 27th-ranked Italian is coming off a quarterfinal setback against eventual champion Philipp Kohlschreiber in Kitzbuhel.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in action against Kei Nishikori of Japan during their quarterfinal match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 02 June 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Tsonga is not returning to the exact scene of one his greatest triumphs because this event is in Montreal instead of Toronto, but he is still the defending champion. The Frenchman’s incredible run to the 2014 Rogers Cup title included upsets of Djokovic, Murray, and Federer. That performance came just about out of nowhere and Tsonga would have to pretty much do the same this time around. The No. 10 seed is mere 13-8 on the year with no result to speak of aside from a surprising semifinal at Roland Garros.

Up first for Tsonga this week is Borna Coric, whom he has never played. Coric owns 19 of his 26 career ATP-level match wins in 2014 and is up to No. 36 in the rankings. The 18-year-old Croat is 2-2 since Wimbledon, with a pair of clay-court losses to Roberto Bautista Agut.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp World Tour, Gael Monfils, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

August 9, 2015 at 8:42 pm

-@Dimonator LOOKS AT #Montreal #tennis AND MAKES HIS PICKS / @Yimlife1313 QUALIFIES AND MORE TENNIS NEWS- http://t.co/q60WPD9ws3