Damien Kayat previews Gael Monfils vs Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov vs Emil Ruusuvuori in selected Round of 16 matches of the French Open, on the 1st of June 2023.
2023 ATP Tour
Grand Slam Tennis
French Open
Stade Roland Garros, Paris, France (Outdoor Clay)
Selected Round of 64 Matches – 1st June
Gael Monfils 13/2 | Holger Rune 1/14
This match will almost certainly be the hottest ticket in town this week. Gael Monfils gave Court Phillipe-Chatrier its first truly iconic moment of the championships on Tuesday night, inspiring a chorus of La Marseillaise from the home faithful.
You have to put his victory over clay-court specialist Sebastian Baez into context. The 36-year-old Frenchman- a semi-finalist here in 2008- started this tournament ranked 386th in the world. Injuries and poor form have seen him struggle tremendously throughout the calendar year. He had only played eight matches this year prior to this event.
And he had only one match (on the Challenger Tour). I will never fully understand how he managed to get himself out of that 5th set hole. He trailed 4-0 and was 30-40 down on his own delivery!
But he vampirically channelled the strength of the Parisian crowd, somehow finding the energy for one of the most remarkable comebacks you will ever witness. Who cares what shape he is in for this tough assignment? He made us believe in miracles on Tuesday night.
Danish wunderkind Holger Rune is just going from strength to strength. He recently reached a career-high ranking of 6th, making him the highest-ranked Danish player in the history of the ATP rankings.
And last year’s Paris Masters champion has looked utterly brilliant on the clay this season. His four-set, first-round victory over Eubanks took his 2023 clay-court record to 14-3. He reached the final of the Monte-Carlo Masters before successfully defending his BMW Open title.
He followed an underwhelming week in Madrid with yet another Masters 1000 final in Rome (where he lost to the ridiculously in-form Danil Medvedev). Alongside Carlos Alcaraz, the fist-pumping Dane represents the new face of men’s tennis.
But this will be an interesting assignment for the 20-year-old. I doubt he will ever have played in front of such a partisan crowd. He just needs to focus on his game and take it point by point.
Verdict: Rune to win in straight sets – 54/100
This will be the first career meeting between these two. Monfils looked finished in that 5th set and he will need some herculean powers of recovery to be competitive here. Rune wasn’t fluent against Eubanks but seemed to up his tempo in the closing salvos of the match. Rune’s power off both wings is going to be simply too much for Monfils.
It’s easy to get sentimental after a performance like Monday night. But Rune is one of the most in-form players on the planet. And he also doesn’t seem to get fazed by the occasion: just look at his victory over Djokovic in last year’s Paris Masters final.
Grigor Dimitrov 43/100 | Emil Ruusuvuori 18/10
Grigor Dimitrov has never been one for the red clay of Roland Garros. He has reached the semi-finals in all three of the other Grand Slams. He has never gone beyond the 4th round of this event.
But he came into this year’s Roland Garros spectacle with some sneaky clay-court form, losing in the final of last week’s Geneva Open. He really seemed to carry that form into his first-round match, absolutely demolishing Timofey Skatov in straight-sets (including a bagel opening set). That result has taken his 2023 record to a respectable 16-10.
I find it surprising that Dimitrov has struggled in Paris. Sure, his game is probably better suited to fast hardcourts. But he has reached three Masters 1000 semi-finals in clay-court events (including one at last year’s Monte Carlos Masters).
He has brilliant athleticism and plenty of variety. He has a huge forehand and the ability to impart topspin on his backhand. He also has one of the best sliced backhands in the business.
24-year-old Finn Emil Ruusuvuori took a far more taxing route into this year’s 2nd round. The World No.46 needed to come back from two sets to one down to take down Frenchman Gregoire Barrere.
The baseline-hugging Finn’s season has now improved to 16-13. He is one of those players who always looks on the verge of going deep in events. But he just seems to lack the consistency to string together back-to-back results.
He did show some BMT with his maiden Masters 1000 quarterfinal run in Miami. But this surface just doesn’t play into his wheelhouse. Like Dimitrov, he likes to dominate on serve and hit from the baseline. But he typically has a flatter ball trajectory, and he doesn’t really have much of a Plan B.
Verdict: Dimitrov to win in three sets – 6/1
This will be the first career meeting between these two. Dimitrov just has a greater clay-court pedigree than the Finn. His career clay-court record of 38-29 dwarfs Ruusuvuori’s losing record of 14-19. I think Dimitrov will easily see off the Finn and further justify his growing dark horse status.
