Day 7 was the most unentertaining of the opening week in the men’s draw. Rublev earned a walkover so we lost one of the matches while the other 7 all ended in straight sets.
In the past we have witnessed numerous marquee matchups in the 4th Round but that is not the case here which means we could have another day of dominant wins.
The world number one has been in relentless form. He has dropped a total of only 10 games across the last 6 sets he has played – making Gasquet and Lehecka seem like a pair of average players down at the local courts. Rublev does not fall into that category and will go down swinging but his only style of tennis will not work today. Sinner feeds off the power of his opponents’ and the issue for Rublev here is that the courts do not play fast enough for his to hit through the Italian. Moreover, he does not have a ‘Plan B’ or the variety required to disrupt Sinner’s rhythm. Another dominant Sinner win is on the way.
Briain’s Cameron Norrie had never made it past the 3rd Round here despite at one point being ranked in the top 10. Now, as no.81 ranked player in the world he has made his deepest French Open run ever. Credit to him but the upset win over Medvedev (a player that struggles on clay) was following by wins over Gomez (outside top 100) and Fearney (outside top 50). Now there are people talking up his chances of beating Djokovic. That will not be happening and as we have seen in the past, Djokovic does not lose at the majors against players ranked this low. He has a 5-0 lifetime record against Norrie and last week beat him 6-1 in the deciding set in Geneva. With another handful of matches under his belt, Novak will not be losing a set here.
Griekspoor has spent significantly more time than Zverev on court but his five se win over Quinn was far from gruelling. The biggest factor for the underdog is that he will believe that he can beat Zverev. After all, he pushed Zverev to five sets here last year – losing a 5th set tiebreak. Moreover, he was able to beat Zverev at Indian Wells earlier this year and has won at least one set in 4 of his last 5 battles against the German. Have consistently backed Zverev opponents to take at least set this tournament (with limited success) but will not be shying away from it here.
Bublik crashed out in the first round in 6 of his previous 9 Grand Slam appearances to this year’s French Open but has hit a purple patch. His big serve, all court style and unpredictability make him a wildcard but that may not be enough against Draper. The Brit dismantled young gun Joao Fonseca who was supposed to use his power to make it a competitive match. Draper handled the Brazilian’s big serve with ease and won 79% of his own service points. He did not drop serve for the match and against a similar type of opponent here he should encounter very few problems. Bublik may be able to keep it close in one of the sets but that’s it.