By Ricky Dimon
Every one of the top four seeds in the top half of the men’s singles draw at Roland Garros has reached the quarterfinals. The result is an intriguing French Open lineup on Wednesday, when the rain-delayed bottom half will preceded these two contests. Andy Murray is renewing his rivalry with Kei Nishikori, while Stan Wawrinka is set to face Marin Cilic.
Ricky previews two of the men’s quarterfinal matches and makes his predictions.
(1) Andy Murray vs. (8) Kei Nishikori
Murray and Nishikori will be colliding for the 11th time in their careers. Although Murray is out in front of the head-to-head series 8-2, dating back to the start of the 2016 season the story has been competitiveness. Three of their last four meetings have progressed to final sets, including a Davis Cup rubber (won by Murray at home in Great Britain), at the U.S. Open (Nishikori), and at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (Murray).
Nishikori has already gone the distance once this fortnight, requiring five to get past Hyeon Chung in round three. The world No. 9 seemed to be in line for another tough day at the office when he went up against Fernando Verdasco on Monday, but Nishikori bounced back from a wretched first set to get the job done 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0. The Japanese star preceded those results by taking care of Thanasi Kokkinakis in four sets and Jeremy Chardy in straights. Murray has advanced with defeats of Andrey Kuznetsov, Martin Klizan, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Karen Khachanov, donating sets only to Kuznetsov and Klizan.
The Scot has raised his level in his two most recent matches and it would be typical of Nishikori to follow up an impressive showing with an injury-plague letdown in his next match.
Pick: Murray in 3
(3) Stan Wawrinka vs. (7) Marin Cilic
Rafael Nadal has lost only 20 games through four rounds and Cilic is No. 2 in that department so far in this tournament (26). Although it has to be said that the Croat has benefited from a favorable draw, he has also been quite impressive. He has not dropped more than three games in any set while battering Ernests Gulbis, Konstantin Kravchuk, Feliciano Lopez, and Kevin Anderson (the latter retired in the set two). This a much-needed big result on the biggest of stages for Cilic, who compiled a combined 5-6 record at slams and Masters events earlier this year but lifted a trophy on the clay courts of Istanbul.
Next up for the 2014 U.S. Open champion is a 14th career showdown against Wawrinka. Cilic trails the head-to-head series 11-2, including a hopeless 0-4 mark against Wawrinka on this surface. That includes a Roland Garros encounter back in 2008, when Wawrinka won 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 6-1. The 32-year-old Swiss triumphed at this tournament last season for the third career Grand Slam title of his career and he is suddenly looking like a contender again. He slumped earlier in 2017 but won the Geneva title in late May and is currently in the midst of an eight-match winning streak.
Especially on red clay, Wawrinka will be able to hit through the court more easily than Cilic–especially on the backhand wing.
Pick: Wawrinka in 4
Topics: 10sballs.com, 2017 French Open, Andy Murray, Clay tennis, French Open Tennis, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, Paris, RG17, Ricky Dimon, Roland Garros 2017, Sports, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News