TENNIS 10SBALLS SHARES RICKY’S PICKS FOR THE SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS THIRD ROUND

Written by: Staff on 11th October 2017

TENNIS 10SBALLS SHARES RICKY'S PICKS FOR THE SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS THIRD ROUND

epa06244163 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in action against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during their men's singles second round match of the China Open tennis tournament at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China, 04 October 2017. EPA-EFE/WU HONG |

By Ricky Dimon

A full slate of third-round action will take center stage at the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Thursday. Top three seeds Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Alexander Zverev are still alive. Zverev has an especially intriguing showdown on his hands against Juan Martin Del Potro.

Ricky breaks down the eight matchups and makes his predictions.

(10) Sam Querrey vs. (6) Grigor Dimitrov: World Tour Finals contenders have been dropping like flies in Shanghai. Dimitrov and Querrey have survived so far, but one will be toast on Thursday. It may be Querrey. Dimitrov in 3.

(16) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (3) Alexander Zverev: It does not get any better in the third round than Zverev vs. Del Potro. No, this is at good as it gets. And it should not disappoint, either, because both big hitters are in fine form. Zverev in 3.

(4) Marin Cilic vs. Steve Johnson: Cilic is something like 49-1 in his last 50 matches against Americans (an approximation!). There is no reason to think that trend will change in this one. Cilic in 2.

(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Fabio Fognini: Nadal won in 54 minutes on Wednesday. By Nadal’s standards, that might as well be as fast as the 27-minute Bernard Tomic vs. Jarkko Nieminen match a few years back in Miami. Further trouble for Fognini is that he is 0-4 in his last four matches against the Spaniard. Nadal in 2.

(Q) Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. (2) Roger Federer: Simply completing this match would be a moral victory for Dolgopolov. He has played a ton of tennis late so his physical state–which is always a question mark–has to be especially fragile right now. Moreover, two his four losses to Federer have ended in retirement. Federer in 2.

Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas: The man with a hyphen in either his first or last name will win. Ramos-Vinolas in 3.

Gilles Simon vs. Richard Gasquet: The Frenchman will win. Gasquet in 2.

Viktor Troicki vs. John Isner: Isner was supposed to play Karen Khachanov in the second round and Dominic Thiem in the third. Instead he faced Stefanos Tsitsipas and now he is going up against Troicki. The American is 4-0 in tiebreakers this week. Isner in 2.