Steen Kirby and Yesh Ginsburg of LWOS take a look at the top half men’s round of 16 matches that will take place this Sunday at the US Open, offering up their previews and predictions.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Benoit Paire
Steen:
Tsonga has 2-0 h2h and he’s a surprisingly heavy favorite with the oddsmakers, Paire has two fantastic wins and is in the form of his career at this tournament, but I’m not sure his body will be able to hold up and thus I’m going with Tsonga who has yet to drop a set and has buzzsawed through the opening week.
Prediction: Tsonga in 4 sets
Yesh:
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is playing like it’s three years ago and Paire is finally having his breakout Slam. This should be an excellent battle between the two Frenchmen.
Prediction: Tsonga in 5 sets
Marin Cilic vs. Jeremy Chardy
Steen:
Chardy’s ability to hit big shots against a poor mover in Cilic should give Marin some problems, especially coming off of a five set survival win, but Cilic is the higher ranked and seemingly superior player when it comes to big hitting and serving. I don’t discount Chardy in slams, but I’ll go with Cilic to survive into the quarters.
Prediction: Cilic in 4 sets
Yesh:
Marin Cilic survived his last match but the defending champ had to go five sets to get through here last year. He’s hungry and wants to repeat. His form won’t stay poor for long.
Prediction: Cilic in 4 sets
Feliciano Lopez vs. Fabio Fognini
Steen:
Both flamboyant veterans come off confidence boosting wins as Lopez demolished top 10 player Milos Raonic in straights and Fognini played perhaps the match of his career to shock Rafael Nadal from two sets down. Fognini has a ton of talent, and after not winning a hard court match all year, has caught fire this tournament, but Lopez is a steady big server, and Fognini was very poor in his service games against Nadal, in both % and the amount of breaks he surrendered. Matchup wise I think the edge goes to Lopez.
Prediction: Lopez in 5 sets
Yesh:
Fognini is the more talented player and in better form right now, though the hard courts suit Lopez better. It will all depend on how invested Fognini is coming after taking out Nadal.
Prediction: Fognini in 4 sets
Novak Djokovic vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
Steen:
I don’t see anything wrong with Djokovic through his first three matches and RBA was lucky David Goffin retired before he did in the previous round. The Spaniard lacks the arsenal to take on elite players and we could see a retirement due to exhaustion, otherwise he’ll likely be happy to make the second week and bow out gracefully.
Prediction: Djokovic in 3 sets
Yesh:
Bautista-Agut is exhausted and Djokovic is on form. Not much more to say here.
Prediction: Djokovic in 3 sets
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