Two rounds are in the books at Roland Garros, so now it’s time for third-round competition on Friday. Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek are among those in action, but one of the more intriguing matchups pits Tommy Paul against Karen Khachanov.
Here are my picks for some of Friday’s best matchups.
(24) Karen Khachanov vs. (12) Tommy Paul
Paul is basically on his second life in Paris. The question is: how much life does he have left in him? The American was down and close to out in round two, when he trailed Marton Fucsovics two sets to love and watched the Hungarian serve for the match at 5-3 in the fourth. As if that wasn’t enough, Paul was also plagued late in the match by an apparent groin injury. Nonetheless, the world No. 12 battled all the way back to triumph 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in three hours and 38 minutes. Paul preceded that result with a four-set defeat of Elmer Moller.
Paul is 2-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series. He got the job done in a third-set tiebreaker at the 2022 Miami Open and 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 just a few weeks ago in Madrid. However, Khachanov is playing well right now and often overachieves at majors relative to other tournaments. The world No. 244 also required five sets on Wednesday (beat Sebastian Ofner), but he at least enjoyed a routine opening match (defeated Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4).
With Paul having some physical concerns, I’m giving the edge to Khachanov.
Pick: Khachanov in 5
Other matches:
Frances Tiafoe vs. Sebastian Korda: Tiafoe in 5 – Tiafoe generally raises his level at Grand Slams, whereas Korda’s game can decline on the big stage.
Ben Shelton vs. Matteo Gigante: Gigante in 5 – The Italian is very good on clay, while the jury is still out on Shelton when it comes to this particular surface.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.