French Open 2018

[PKBasu]

Strange! So it looks as if Leander couldn't find a partner in time

[vparam]

Strange! So it looks as if Leander couldn't find a partner in time

Or he wasn't interested in playing the French Open. He had not entered any warm up events and has not played since David Cup. No way Leander would have problems finding a partner with his near top 50 ranking. As had been said by many others, LP is very close to retiring.

[S_K_S]

1st match on court 8 at 9am for Prajnesh

[S_K_S]

Yen-Hsun Lu in 1st round for Yuki

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/ ... 5/overview

Looking at the profile that has to be a winnable match for Yuki even if it is on clay.

[vparam]

Couldn't have asked for a better match up for Yuki!

[bujilover]

Yen-Hsun Lu in 1st round for Yuki

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/ ... 5/overview

Looking at the profile that has to be a winnable match for Yuki even if it is on clay.

Easiest match one would expect at a slam MD. Lu has only played 2 tournaments this year and seems to be on the verge of winding down.
I like the R2 draw as well - Sock/ a qualifier. YUKI!

[PKBasu]

Definitely winnable match for Yuki! In fact, I will say it more clearly: Yuki will win his first Slam match at the unlikeliest venue, Roland Garros 2018, and then probably beat Sock in R2 as well.

I was courtside when a young Yuki played a hell of a match against Yen-hsun Lu at the Singapore Challenger in 2012 -- and reported it live using my Samsung tablet (a device that I have hardly used since...!). He lost 67 46, but Lu (then ranked around 60) was seriously stretched. The following year, Lu beat Yuki at the Kaohsiung Challenger final -- but that was 5 years ago, and Lu was still only 29 and very much the Asia #2 (behind only Nishikori). I saw Lu play Federer in R1 at Wimbledon (centre court) in 2009 (and, despite being a Federer fan[atic], I brought the house down a couple of times by being the lone voice shouting "come on Yen-Hsun"!). Lu Yen-Hsun actually loves playing on grass -- I remember him beating Andy to make the QF at Wimbledon the following year. Clay is not his surface, thus neutralizing Yuki's perceived disadvantage.

It won't be a gimme, because Lu is a fighter. But at 34, he is certainly winding down and has struggled even at the Challenger level this year. Yuki knows his game quite well, as they train together and share the same coach (Stephen Koon). The stars are falling very nicely into place for Yuki, and I love the fact that he gets to play an American (who he has beaten both as a junior and as a pro, albeit losing their last match at Miami) in R2.

[PKBasu]

Taiwan has been Yuki's lucky charm. Not only has he done superbly at Kaohsiung and Taipei Challengers over the years, he has notched up wins over higher-ranked Taiwanese players regularly over the years (Jimmy Wang being one).
But Lu Yen-Hsun is the greatest-ever tennis player from Taiwan, who reached a career-high of 33 and has won 29 Challenger titles in his long career. At 34, Lu is definitely on the wane as a tennis player, so this is a massive opportunity for Yuki to notch up a win, pick up lots of money and points and move on up. Now I'm feeling quite good about the fact that Yuki has rested rather than stressing himself out playing too much this month!

[PKBasu]

Jack Sock plays a qualifier or Lucky Loser in R1, so there is a chance he could run into Prajnesh (and I don't think he will be able to stop Prajnesh, although any one of 15 other qualifiers could get this slot...) .

R2 between Yuki and Jack Sock (assuming Sock doesn't play Gunneswaran in R1) would be a mouth-watering prospect. Potential R3 match against Shapovalov (or Millman, Materer or Harrison), followed by R4 against the greatest clay-courter of all time!

[vatsal323]

I just love PKB. Thinks exactly like me!

[sameerph]

That is excellent news regarding Yuki's draw. A few days ago, I was thinking about draw for Yuki and thought ideal draw for him is to draw another Asian or an Australian (who are not so comfortable on clay) and the player I thought as the weakest was Yen-Hsun Lu. And he draws him now. Looks like our positive thinking in SI works.

Lu is not comfortable on clay and moreover, he is coming off a long injury layoff, played 2 tournaments in Korea where he lost to players ranked 232 and 347 ( retired midway thru the second set in first match).

Yuki will not get a better chance than this to first time win a round in main draw of a grand slam.

[PKBasu]

By the way, I said above that Yen-Hsun "beat Andy" at Wimbledon in 2010 to make the QF. That was Andy Roddick (not Murray!). I watched that match on TV at the Heathrow airport lounge that evening, so I remember it well -- but was obviously a bit too excited about Yuki drawing him in R1, so I'm surprised to find that I just wrote "Andy"!

[PKBasu]

I would prefer to watch Yuki playing Nadal at Wimbledon rather than Roland Garros, if truth be told.
Just like Lu, I think Yuki is going to have a lot of success on the grass at Wimbledon despite his underwhelming serve.

[sameerph]

Prajnesh's final qualifying match against Ymer is at 10 am local time on court 8.

As many as 4 lucky loser spots have opened up in the main draw now. However, Prajnesh cannot rely on that as he is among the 2 lowest ranked players in the final qualifying round. Ymer has a fair chance of getting in as LL even if he loses.

Anyway, it will be a tough match for Prajnesh against one of the top talent to come out in Europe in recent years.

[sameerph]

Prajnesh is 1-4 down in the first set.

He got broken after being 40-30 up serving at 1-2 and then missed 5 breakpoint chances to break right back. Now serving at 1-4.