Haven’t I seen you here before?
Monday, in three of the four men’s round of 16 Roland Garros matches, the answer is “no.” The slot on the calendar for Roland Garros is not familiar, the weather is not familiar, and for three of the four matches on Day 14, the opponents are not familiar.
Despite being filled with four seeded and experienced players, the competitors in three matches today never faced off in an ATP or Grand Slam event. Each of these matchups pairs competitors with little to no professional experience against their opponent.
#13 seed Andrey Rublev vs Marton Fucsovics
#17 seed Pablo Carreno Busta vs Daniel Altmaier
#5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas vs #18 seed Grigor Dimitrov
The outlying pair is Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov. They face off for the fifth time at the ATP or Grand Slam level. Khachanov looks to win his second in a row after dropping his first three matches to the World #1.
Andrey Rublev vs Marton Fucsovics
Rublev and Fucsovics open Monday’s play on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Compared to the other two matches, these two are old friends. Years ago the pair met once at the Davis Cup level and once at the Challenger level.
Fucsovics took both of those long ago clay court matches. This time will be different. Rublev was still a teenager in their earlier matches and his game continues to improve. Rublev survived a five set scare against American Sam Querrey in the first round before rounding into form in his next 3 matches. Look for Rublev to continue his solid play against the Hungarian who knocked off #4 seed Danill Medvedev in the first round. Despite winning his next two matches in straight sets, Fucsovics will not have enough staying power to match the talented Rublev.
Pablo Carreno Busta vs Daniel Altmaier
Carreno Busta and Altmaier will close the day’s play on Suzanne-Lenglen. Ranked outside of the top 200 in the world, Altmaier is making the most of his time in Paris. After advancing through qualifying, the German knocked off two non-seeded players before upsetting #8 seed Matteo Berrettini in the third round. While these players have not seen each other in professional singles competition before, Carreno Busta will quickly find the answers as the young German runs out of pixie dust against his more experienced and talented opponent.
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Grigor Dimitrov
Most surprisingly of the three matches, the highly ranked and highly experienced Tsitsipas and Dimitrov play each other for the first time as professionals in their 4th round matchup. With a combined thirteen titles between them as well as a host of many other deep runs, these top Europeans finally find each other across the net on the grand stage of Court Philippe Chatrier.
Both Tsitsipas and Dimitov arrive in the 4th round after surviving 5 set affairs with unseeded opponents and benefiting from a mid-match retirement. Each man should be rested and ready, while both carry the baggage of big stage losses in recent years. The competitor who more effectively shakes off the ghosts of bad losses past will prevail to the quarters. Look for Dimitrov to have a little too much for the #5 seed.
Sometimes the rivalries and histories of the competitors help build the drama of second week matches in the Grand Slams. Not so on Monday at Roland Garros. But, what is familiar about the 2020 French Open being held in October? Besides the relentless march of Rafael Nadal, not much.
Main Photo from Getty.
