DJOKOVIC, LOPEZ, CILIC, AND TSONGA AIM FOR SEMIFINAL SPOTS AT U.S. OPEN

Written by: on 8th September 2015
US Open Tennis
DJOKOVIC, LOPEZ, CILIC, AND TSONGA AIM FOR SEMIFINAL SPOTS AT U.S. OPEN

epa04917638 Feliciano Lopez of Spain hits a return to Fabio Fognini of Italy during their match on the seventh day of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 06 September 2015. The US Open runs through 13 September, which is a return to a 14-day schedule. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT  |

Djokovic, Lopez, Cilic, and Tsonga aim for semifinal spots at U.S. Open

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

Novak Djokovic will get night-session billing for a second straight match at the U.S. Open when he takes the court against Feliciano Lopez for a quarterfinal showdown on Tuesday. They will be preceded by an afternoon showdown between Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

 

Previews and picks of the two men’s matchups:

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (18) Feliciano Lopez 

Djokovic and Lopez will be going head-to-head for the sixth time in their careers and for the first time in three years when they clash in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open on Tuesday night. All five of their previous encounters have gone the way of Djokovic, who is 4-0 against Lopez on hard courts and 11-1 in total sets through five matches. They have not faced each other since a 2012 Shanghai meeting and they have not squared off at a major since the 2007 Australian Open.

 

Lopez benefited from Rafael Nadal’s early exit by cruising past Fabio Fognini in straight sets on Sunday. The 33-year-old Spaniard preceded that with victories over Nikoloz Basilashvili, Mardy Fish, and Milos Raonic. Lopez has surrendered only two sets (both to Fish), while Djokovic has dropped just one–to Roberto Bautista Agut in a high-quality battle on Sunday evening. The top-ranked Serb previously defeated Joao Souza, Andreas Haider-Maurer, and Andreas Seppi.

 

“When Novak plays good, you don’t know what to do to be honest,” Lopez commented. “He has no weaknesses in his game. I just have to try my best, take the chances, enjoy this match in the biggest court in the world against the best player in the world.”

 

Lopez, as usual, will rely on his big lefty serve and aggressive net play to shorten points against his heavily-favored opponent. Unfortunately for the underdog, Djokovic is one of the best returners and defenders in the game. This should be entertaining, but it may not last more than three sets.

Pick: Djokovic in 3

 

(19) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (9) Marin Cilic

Due in part to recent physical problems and mainly to lackluster form, many believed that Cilic would not even get this far in his U.S. Open title defense. However, the improbable 2014 champion got dealt a favorable draw and he has certainly made the most of the opportunity. Cilic beat Guido Pella and Evgeny Donskoy in straights, survived Mikhail Kukushkin in five, then took out an in-form Jeremy Chardy in four. The Croat is now 22-13 for a season that really did not get started until the European clay-court swing in April.

 

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France hits a return to Benoit Paire of France during their match on the seventh day of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 06 September 2015. The US Open runs through 13 September, which is a return to a 14-day schedule. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

Up next for Cilic is a sixth career meeting with Tsonga, against whom the No. 9 seed is 4-1 lifetime. The two big hitters most recently squared off a few months ago on the red dirt of Monte-Carlo, where Cilic got the job done 6-3, 7-6(5). Of course, Tsonga is also in far better form now than he was at that time–mainly because, like Cilic, he is playing at 100 percent in terms of health. The Frenchman reached the Montreal quarterfinals and so far in New York he has rolled over Jarkko Nieminen, Marcel Granollers, Sergiy Stakhovsky, and Benoit Paire.

 

“He also had a similar last year as me; similar 12 months, I would say,” Cilic assessed. “He was also out with injury on his arm. He’s been playing up and down. He had some great results and some that probably (were) not the best for him, but definitely (he is) always (a) very, very tricky player. Especially in Grand Slams (he) always plays great.”

 

Tsonga has not lost a set, has not been pushed to a tiebreaker, and has not even been broken a single time. In this kind of form, look for Tsonga to power his way to what would be a minor upset on paper.

Pick: Tsonga in 4

 

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

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