Roland Garros, the Ligurian hunting a feat against Tsitsipas while the South Tyrolean is clear favorite against Frenchman Moutet: predictions.
Compatriot Lorenzo Musetti failed to give Jannik Sinner the much-needed overtaking of Novak Djokovic in the Atp ranking: after five sets, the Carrara-born player surrendered to the Serbian champion, thus preventing the South Tyrolean from overtaking Nole and becoming world number one for the first time in his career. Sinner, however, can also get to his goal through other avenues, and the feeling, as Djokovic himself has reiterated lately, is that it is only a matter of time.
In the meantime, the Italian has managed to make it to the second week of a Slam for the 10th time in the last 11 events. So far, so smooth for the world number two: after settling Eubanks and Gasquet in three sets, he was on court for two and a half hours against Russian Kotov, whom he had already beaten just over a month ago in Madrid. In the round of 16 he will also start clearly favored against Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who somewhat surprisingly finds himself in the top 16 at Roland Garros. The world number 79 had the merit of eliminating Chile’s Jarry in the first round and then, while always dropping at least one set, won over Kazakhstan’s Shevchenko and Austria’s Ofner. His run will most likely stop here. Sinner’s level is simply too high for someone like him and there seems to be no room for a feat.
Hurkacz against the “black beast” Dimitrov
The other Italian on the court today is Matteo Arnaldi. For the third time in his career, the Ligurian tennis player beat a top 10 player: in the third round he got the better of a very nervous Rublev, bent even in three sets.
And now comes the good stuff, with the San Remo native in the round of 16 facing one of the potential Paris Slam winners, Stefanos Tsitsipas. There is no precedent between the two, a detail that worries, and not a little, the Greek, who said in the pre-match interview that against Arnaldi he “will have to go a little bit tentative.” The Athenian should eventually come out on top, but the very solid and brash Italian will probably prove to be a tough nut to crack. Also on the court is world number three Carlos Alcaraz, who is engaged against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime: the Spaniard seems to be going up in level match after match but the Montreal-born tennis player is also playing very well and proved it in his last match against American Shelton, who was eliminated in three sets. Alcaraz favored but it cannot be ruled out that Aliassime will win at least one set. Finally, the potentially most balanced match is between Hubert Hurkacz and Grigor Dimitrov. This is the sixth previous between the two, with the Bulgarian always being a black beast for the Pole (0-5). Red is not their favorite surface and for the first time they could reach the quarters in Paris. Dimitrov could come out on top at the end of a match of at least 40 games overall.
Roland Garros: possible winners
Tsitsipas in Arnaldi-Tsitsipas.
Dimitrov in Hurkacz-Dimitrov
Roland Garros, predictions on the games
Arnaldi-Tsitsipas (over 35.5)
Auger Aliassime-Alcaraz (over 33.5)
Hurkacz-Dimitrov (over 40.5)
Moutet-Sinner (under 31.5)
