10SBALLS SHARES RICKY’S FRENCH OPEN QUARTERFINAL PICKS: MURRAY VS. GASQUET, WAWRINKA VS. RAMOS-VINOLAS

Written by: Staff on 31st May 2016

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

10SBALLS SHARES RICKY'S FRENCH OPEN QUARTERFINAL PICKS: MURRAY VS. GASQUET, WAWRINKA VS. RAMOS-VINOLAS

epa05336496 Andy Murray of Britain in action against Jon Isner of the USA during their men's single round of 16 match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 29 May 2016. ? EPA/Caroline Blumberg |

By Ricky Dimon

They will try to do it again on Wednesday.

Monday was a complete washout at the French Open and Tuesday was not much better in terms of the weather. A couple of women’s matches were completed, but on the men’s side Novak Djokovic and Roberto Bautista Agut played two sets and nobody else got in any more than that. The result is jam-packed schedule on Wednesday, on which the two quarterfinal clashes on the bottom half of the draw will be held in addition to completion of fourth-round action in the top half.

Ricky previews the two quarterfinals and makes his predictions.

(9) Richard Gasquet vs. (2) Andy Murray

Murray and Gasquet will be colliding for the 11th time in their careers on Wednesday. Murray is out in front of the head-to-head series 7-3, including 2-1 on clay and 4-0 in their last four encounters dating back to a meeting at this same tournament in 2012. What was a budding Grand Slam rivalry between 2008 and 2012 has stalled out of late. Murray and Gasquet clashed four times at slams–twice at Roland Garros and twice at Wimbledon–in a five-year span, but they have not met in such a situation since the Scot got the job done 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 during fourth-round action in 2012. Murray has recovered from two-set deficits at the Frenchman’s expense on two occasions; 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-4 at the All-England Club in 2008 and 4-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in the 2010 French Open opening round.

Speaking of opening-round scares on the red clay, that is exactly what the second seed endured last week. Qualifier Radek Stepanek surged to a two-set advantage over Murray only to eventually succumb 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5. Murray struggled though another five-setter in round two–against little-known wild card Mathias Bourgue, whom the favorite survived 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. A pair of huge servers proved to be just what the doctor ordered for Murray, who raised his level considerably in straight-set defeats of Ivo Karlovic and John Isner.

Surprisingly, Gasquet had never been to the French Open quarters prior to this fortnight. The world No. 12 finally got over the hump in his 13th appearance, and he did so by upsetting Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 on Sunday. That was preceded by straight-setters against Thomaz Bellucci, Bjorn Fratangelo, and Nick Kyrgios. With the pressure ratcheted up and an ever-improving Murray on the other side of the net, Gasquet’s run may finally come to an end.

Pick: Murray in 4

Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. (3) Stan Wawrinka

Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in action against Viktor Troicki of Serbia during their men’s single round of 16 match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 29 May 2016. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Wawrinka and Albert Ramos-Vinolas will be facing each other for the seventh time in their careers and for the second time in two weeks on Wednesday. They just squared off in their final pre-Roland Garros warmup event at the Nice Open, where Wawrinka issued a 6-1, 6-1 double-breadstick of the Spaniard. That improved the world No. 4’s perfect record in the head-to-head series to 6-0, which includes a 3-0 mark on clay. Wawrinka is 13-2 in total sets at Ramos-Vinolas’ expense (6-1 on the slow stuff).

As Ramos-Vinolas’ recent Nice result suggests, his shocking run in Paris has come from pretty much out of nowhere. He had been just 14-16 for the 2016 campaign prior to this fortnight and had won back-to-back matches at only one of his last eight events (a quarterfinal trip to the 250-point tournament in Istanbul). But a favorable draw and a sudden surge in form have carried Ramos-Vinolas past Horacio Zeballos, Marco Trungelliti, Jack Sock (in five sets), and Milos Raonic.

Wawrinka also endured one five-setter on his way to the last eight, and it came right off the bat against Lukas Rosol. After recovering from a two sets to one deficit to outlast Rosol, the Swiss picked up the pace to make easier work of Taro Daniel, Jeremy Chardy, and Viktor Troicki. Wawrinka is ultimately aiming for a second consecutive triumph at Roland Garros and for a fourth winner’s trophy of this season. Whereas the No. 3 seed is the defending champion, Ramos-Vinolas is playing in his first-ever major quarterfinal.

Pick: Wawrinka in 3

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

Topics: 10sballs, 2016 French Open, Alberto Ramos-Vinolas, Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Clay tennis, French Open Tennis, RG16, Richard Gasquet, Ricky Dimon, Roland Garros, Sports, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News

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ikesenmarble says:

May 31, 2016 at 4:02 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Ricky’s #FrenchOpen Quarterfinal Picks: Murray vs Gasquet, Wawrinka vs Ramos-Vinolas
https://t.co/O1ssAWDfX9 #RG16 https…