Del Potro, Nadal Lead Thursday's Second-Round Play
Del Potro, Nadal Lead Thursday’s Second-Round Play
Regarding Juan Martin del Potro’s chances at Roland Garros, where were we?
The Argentine, despite his subpar play on clay so far this year, was one of a limited number of men who could think about challenging Rafael Nadal on the red dirt. But then Del Potro injured his groin against David Goffin on 17 May in Rome.
On Tuesday, however, the fifth-seeded Del Potro let everyone resume the conversation as he dismissed Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in four sets. Del Potro showed that he’s healthy, back and – although clay isn’t his favourite surface – eager for more.
He’ll face another Frenchman on Thursday in Julien Benneteau. The 36-year-old is playing at Roland Garros for the final time after announcing that he will retire later this season. Del Potro leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, both hard-court wins.
The Tandil native will try to reverse his country’s second-round luck. Seven Argentine men reached the Round of 64 – the most since 2009, when there were also seven – but three lost on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal has lost only twice at Roland Garros. Ever. The Spaniard improved his incomprehensible Paris record to 80-2 with his straight-sets win against Italian Simone Bolelli. Nadal next faces Del Potro’s countryman Guido Pella, a left-hander, (third on Court Suzanne-Lenglen). The 28-year-old Pella has fared well against lefties, winning six of his past seven matches, but not against Nadal (0-1, 2017 Indian Wells).
Nadal, the No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings, hasn’t lost a Grand Slam match to a player ranked as low as Pella, No. 78, since losing to No. 102 Dustin Brown in the second round of 2015 Wimbledon. The 31-year-old is going for title No. 11 in Paris.
Before Del Potro and Nadal, though, third seed Marin Cilic, first on Court Philippe-Chatrier, will look to continue his under-the-radar clay-court run against #NextGenATP Hubert Hurkacz of Poland. Cilic reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court semi-final in Rome. #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the 24th seed, will kick off play on Court 1 against German Maximilian Marterer in a battle of Roland Garros debutants.
Malek Jaziri will go for Tunisian history against 2016 quarter-finalist Richard Gasquet (second on Court Suzanne-Lenglen). If Jaziri wins, he’ll become the first Tunisian man to make the Roland Garros third round in 55 years (Mustapha Belkhodja, 1963).
Sixth seed Kevin Anderson will try to get a step closer to matching his best Roland Garros showing (Round of 16; 2013, 2017) against six-time clay-court titlist Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay. John Isner, another big-serving Top 10 player, also faces a South American comfortable on the clay in Argentine Horacio Zeballos. Diego Schwartzman, a clay-court titlist earlier this year in Rio, will meet Czech Adam Pavlasek.
Elsewhere, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Jeremy Chardy will contest the 79th all-Frenchmen singles battle at Roland Garros; Swede Elias Ymer will try to win his second Grand Slam match against 18th seed Fabio Fognini of Italy; and top Brit Kyle Edmund, the 16th seed, will meet Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open champion Marton Fucsovics.