Reviewing Murray’s, Verdasco’s and Wawrinka’s Performances and Previewing Djokovic’s and Thiem’s Matches
Is Murray a contender now?
In Delpo v/s Murray, the key to Delpo’s victory would have been the first set. If Juan Martiin had converted one of the many set points he had then the match might have had a different flavor and outcome. The double fault by Del Potro on his set point in the first set was a precursor to the 7-6, 7-5, 6-0 denouement.
Delpo had won 2 of their last three meeting and the last clay encounter they had in Madrid in 2009. But Del Potro’s high level match fitness and stamina were always suspect and he had not even been tested here prior to this match. Delpo was given a walkover in his previous round by Almagro who retired due to injury when tied 1 set each, and had an easy first round match against Pella who Del Potro beat 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
Moreover, with all that slicing because of his wrist condition, Del Potro’s game on the back-hand side is becoming slightly predictable. He is forced to run around backhands to convert them into inside out/in forehands to be aggressive on that side. This constant running around back-hands not only leaves a significant portion of the court empty for the opponent to exploit but also adds to the fatigue in a lengthy match or when conditions are slow and heavy as they were during this match.
Murray’s form was suspect prior to the French Open but he had at least been battle tested against Klizan with a tough 4 setter in his previous round. Murray did well by hanging in tough in the first and the second set and kept his unforced errors count low. He now seems to be regaining form but will need to up his game further and improve his first serve percentage, which was around 50% in the first set, to stand a chance against a Wawrinka, Thiem or Nadal. Murray still has ways to go before he can be considered a threat to Nadal in this tournament but he’s getting there slowly and steadily.
Murray will now play the winner of Isner v/s Khachanov who have yet to finish their match which was halted due to rain.
Verdasco v/s Cuevas
Verdasco took out Zverev in the first round and then just didn’t collapse in the next as is generally expected of him. However, now he seems on fire and looked unbeatable in his 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 performance against Cuevas. Cuevas is a quality clay courter and this beating by Nando shows how Verdasco has never really made the most of his talent. The match was quite one sided in all it aspects with Nado hitting 31 winners, keeping the unforced count low to 15 and winning 39 more overall points than Pablo. The weight of Nando’s groundies can push even the best of them back. However how long can Verdasco play at this level?
He’ll next play the winner of Nishikori v/s Chung who are in their fourth set at the moment.
Wawrinka v/s Fognini
Wawrinka beat Fognini convincingly in a 7-6 (2), 6-0, 6-2 performance in slow and heavy palying conditions which did not allow Fognini to do much against Wawrinka’s heavy grond shots. Fognini put up a good fight but went away, to never recover, after the first set. Wawrinka had 27 winners to Fabio’s 20 and won 27 more overall points compared to Fabio. Now Wawrinka has two more matches to get to the semis and if he can reach semis he’ll be my number one contender for the French Open crown.
Wawrinka is a perennial underdog and he has been quietly winning his matches up until now. His next round opponent however will either be Gasquet or Monfils who are currently tied in a duel of their own with Monfils having won the first set before the match was stopped because of rain.
Ramos Vinolas v/s Djokovic
Djokovic barely manged to escape Schwartzman in the previous round and would have certainly lost in a three setter, however these 5 set slams truly favor the big five who can play at the same pace and level all the way through five sets whereas the others fall by the way side by the fifth set. Something similar happened to Diego in the fourth and the fifth and he just couldn’t keep up the level after the third set. Now Djokovic will play Ramos Vinolas who is a solid clay courter and beat Lucas Pouille in 5 sets in the previous round.
Pouille had 62 winners compared to 36 by Ramos Vinolas and Ramos Vinolas had 48 unforced errors compared to 82 by Pouille and Ramos won the match in 5 tough sets. it cannot get more clay court than that. Djokovic has a 3-0 H2H against Ramos Vinolas and it’d be tough for Ramos Vinolas to out-grind even this version of Djokovic.
Conclusion: Djokovic in 4
Thiem v/s Zeballos
Zeballos received a walkover against Goffin in the first set in his previous round whereas Thiem ended Steve Johnson’s run at the French Open. Thiem is one of the favorites here, and he has been living up to that billing. These two have never met before but Zeballos has been having a good clay season and won last 7 of 10 matches on clay, whereas Thiem has won last 8 of 10. So both have done well on clay so far but it will take a Djokovic, Nadal, Wawrinka or Murray to upset Thiem here and Zeballos is none of those so there is no reason for Thiem to not reach the next round.
Conclusion: Thiem in 4