Roland Garros, second round: as many as 5 Italians will take the court on day 5. Musetti must watch out for the “old fox” Monfils.
Novak Djokovic responded in the opener, chasing away the tensions accumulated in recent weeks with a clear – but not so clear – 3-0 win over Frenchman Herbert. The world number one faltered a bit in the second set, which he won only in a tie break (6-4 7-6 6-4), but the most important thing was to bring home a flawless victory and, above all, to build up his confidence ahead of the upcoming matches.
For the Serbian champion, in fact, ’24 has so far been studded with disappointments. And already the fact – totally unusual – that he has failed to win a single trophy speaks volumes about the Belgrade native’s first part of the season. Waiting for him in the second round is the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, a tennis player who knows his stuff on red clay but not enough to be able to challenge Djokovic, who has never dropped a single set to him in his two previous matches. Will it be the same this time? He is not the best Nole but we do not foresee a “long” match. On the other hand, one of the most interesting matches of the day is the one between veteran Gael Monfils and Italian Lorenzo Musetti, a match that “puts up for grabs” just a possible challenge with Djokovic in the third round. The transalpine player’s career is on its last legs, but in important tournaments like this one Monfils is used to exalt himself, not only because he plays at home. And he proved it in the opener against the tricky Brazilian Seyboth Wild, beaten 3-1. Musetti had an easy time against Colombian Galan but against an “old fox” like the Frenchman he will not be able to take any breaks. We anticipate, therefore, a match of at least 4 sets: surprises are around the corner.
Fognini and Cobolli need a feat
Italo-Argentinian Luciano Darderi has made great strides in recent months, entering the world’s top 50 with merit. After a quiet debut with Australian Hijikata, the Italian will face world number 25 Tallon Griekspoor. The Dutchman, however, does not particularly shine on clay, and giving Darderi confidence could prove to be a profitable choice.
Same for compatriot Giulio Zeppieri, who as a qualifier won over Frenchman Mannarino in a comeback. For the Italian now there is the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, whose powerful serve on the shredded brick is much less effective: in this case it might be worth betting (at least) a chip on our home tennis player. A balanced duel looms between two players on the rise and both as dangerous on red as Mariano Navone and Tomas Machac: the Czech is slightly favored in a matchup of at least four sets total. Also intriguing is the challenge between Jan-Lennard Struff and Alexander Bublik: with the eclectic Kazakh player around anything is possible but the greater regularity of the German will end up making the difference. Let’s close with the other two Italian players in today’s match, Fabio Fognini and Flavio Cobolli: despite starting underdogs against Tommy Paul and Holger Rune respectively, they can give him a hard time.
Roland Garros: possible winners
Darderi in Darderi-Griekspoor.
Zeppieri in Kokkinakis-Zeppieri
Monfils in Monfils-Musetti
Machac in Navone-Machac
Struff in Struff-Bublik
Roland Garros, predictions on the games
Cobolli-Rune (over 38.5).
Djokovic-Carballes Baena (under 28.5)
Fognini-Paul (over 34.5)
Monfils-Musetti (over 38.5)
Zverev-Goffin (under 29.5)
