RICKY’S PICKS FOR SATURDAY TENNIS AT ROLAND GARROS, & IT DOESN’T INCLUDE RAFA RAFAEL NADAL ANYMORE THIS YEAR DUE TO A SORE WRIST

Written by: Staff on 27th May 2016

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

RICKY'S PICKS FOR SATURDAY TENNIS AT ROLAND GARROS, & IT DOESN'T INCLUDE RAFA RAFAEL NADAL ANYMORE THIS YEAR DUE TO A SORE WRIST

epa05329875 Dominic Thiem of Austria in action against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spainduring their men's single second round match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2016.??? EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT |

Ricky’s picks for Saturday at Roland Garros, including Nadal vs. Granollers and Thiem vs. Zverev

By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal will resume his French Open campaign on Saturday when he goes up against Marcel Granollers in the third round. An intriguing part of the draw also features Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev, with the winner of that showdown likely to face Nadal in the last 16. Tomas Berdych and Pablo Cuevas are also part of the Saturday schedule.

Ricky previews the matches and makes his predictions.

(4) Rafael Nadal vs. Marcel Granollers

Marcel Granollers of Spain in action against Nicolas Mahut of France during their men’s single second round match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2016. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Neither Nadal nor Granollers has dropped a single set or even been pushed to a tiebreaker as they head into third-round action at the French Open on Saturday. The two Spaniards know a thing or two about those kinds of scorelines in their own head-to-head history, too. Nadal is a perfect 4-0 lifetime against his countryman and has won all eight of their total sets without requiring a single ‘breaker. Their first clay-court contest came four years ago in Rome, where the former world No. 1 dominated 6-1, 6-1. Another showdown on the red stuff was just recently waged last month in Barcelona, where Nadal dominated 6-3, 6-2.

When the draw for this major was unveiled, Nadal was on course for a date in the last 32 against none other than Fabio Fognini. But those designs evaporated in a hurry, as Granollers rolled over the Italian 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 in round one. The world No. 56 then cruised to a two-set lead at the expense of Nicolas Mahut on Thursday before the Frenchman retired with a left knee problem. Nadal has advanced with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 destruction of Sam Groth that preceded a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 win over Facundo Bagnis. The nine-time Roland Garros champion and recent Monte-Carlo winner does not look susceptible to major upsets right now, whereas he did throughout 2015 and earlier this year. Granollers knows he has very little chance in this one–a sentiment that will only enhance the beatdown.

Pick: Nadal in 3

Alexander Zverev vs. (13) Dominic Thiem

Thiem and Zverev will be squaring off for the third time in their careers and for the third time in the last four weeks. This emerging rivalry is one that is becoming commonplace and one that will be expected to remain that way for the next decade. For now, though, Thiem is sweeping the series even though both of their meetings have been competitive. The Austrian prevailed 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the Munich semis before triumphing 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in the Nice title match.

As the scoreline suggests, a worn-out Zverev ran out of gas in his latest effort against Thiem. The 19-year-old has played 36 matches this season (with a 23-13 record), but a few days off in between Nice and the French Open have appeared to offer a revival. So far this fortnight Zverev has earned four-set wins over Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Stephane Robert. The German’s heavy workload, however, pales in comparison to that of Thiem–who has more wins (38) than Zverev’s total number of matches. In fact, Thiem is second on tour in that category this season behind only Novak Djokovic. The 22-year-old added to his count earlier this week by beating Spaniards Inigo Cervantes and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, surrendering just his opening set to Cervantes along the way. Grand Slam experience and the clay-court surface favor Thiem, who should be able to once again get the best of Zverev in a high-quality contest.

Pick: Thiem in 4

(25) Pablo Cuevas vs. (7) Tomas Berdych

Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay in action against Quentin Halys of France during their men’s single second round match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2016. EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT

The 2016 season has been a roller-coaster ride for Berdych, and only the start of it trended upward. He stormed out of the gates with a semifinal performance in Doha, a quarterfinal showing at the Australian Open, and another semifinal run in Marseille. But it has been downhill for the world No. 8 ever since he got blown out in consecutive weeks by Nick Kyrgios (Marseille and Dubai). Berdych recently split from coach Dani Vallverdu after he got infamously double-bageled by David Goffin at the Rome Masters. The Czech, however, may be getting things together following routine wins this week over Vasek Pospisil and Malek Jaziri.

It is safe to say the competition level ratchets up in a major way in the form of Cuevas, who is 1-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series. Their only previous encounter came last fall on the hard courts of Beijing, where Cuevas cruised 6-4, 6-4. That was a surprise on a hard court, but no one could be stunned to see the the world No. 30 beat Berdych on clay. All five of his career titles have come on the red stuff, including two this year in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The Uruguayan cooled off just a bit on the current European clay swing but still owns a solid 20-9 record for the year. He has won six consecutive sets this week at the expense of Tobias Kamke and Quentin Halys since dropping his opener against Kamke. Now that Berdych has to face a traditional clay-courter, his woes are likely to be extended.

Pick: Cuevas in 4