Wednesday Preview: Rafa Protégé Munar Faces Djokovic

Is #NextGenATP’s Jaume Munar the most likely man to lead Spanish tennis into the 2020s and become the nation’s greatest hope when Rafael Nadal eventually steps aside (hopefully many years from now)? Maybe. One thing we do know: Munar will try to channel his best Rafa impersonation against Nadal’s great rival, Novak Djokovic, Wednesday at Roland Garros as second-round action begins.

Munar earned his first Grand Slam victory on Monday, coming back from two sets down to beat Spanish tennis icon David Ferrer. The 21-year-old Barcelona resident called it “the most important victory” of his career. 

Next for Munar: 2016 champion Djokovic. Welcome to the big league, Jaume.

Djokovic has looked much more like his old self during the past three weeks, making his first quarter-final and semi-final of the year at the Internazional BNL d’Italia in Rome earlier this month. He routed Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil on Monday to kick off his Paris stay. Is Djokovic back for good? How he shapes up against Munar, second on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, will be a telling indicator.

Eighth seed David Goffin and 19-year-old Frenchmen Corentin Moutet follow Djokovic-Munar in another battle of established pro against #NextGenATP player. Goffin made coming back from two sets down look easy on Sunday as he beat Robin Haase 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0. He’ll hope for less drama against Moutet, another contender for the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan.

See Who’s Leading The ATP Race To Milan

On Court Philippe-Chatrier, a pair of Frenchmen will look to please the home crowd and reach the third round. Benoit Paire brings a 2-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against 19^th seed Kei Nishikori. The 29-year-old Paire is 0-2 against Nishikori on clay, including a 2013 third-round match at Roland Garros. But don’t underestimate the power of a home crowd behind a player with loads of potential.

Wrapping up play on Court Philippe-Chatrier will be top Frenchman Lucas Pouille and Brit Cameron Norrie, who cracked the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings at No. 85 this week. Pouille eased past 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

It’s been 35 years since France’s Yannick Noah won Roland Garros in 1983. No other Frenchman has matched the feat – or won another Grand Slam title – in the Open Era.

Second seed Alexander Zverev will face a confident Dusan Lajovic of Serbia on Court 1. Lajovic made his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final in Madrid, but Zverev has also enjoyed quite the clay-court season as well. The 21-year-old has won two titles – Munich and Madrid – and reached another Masters 1000 final in Rome (l. to Nadal).

Read More: Coach Moya’s Takeaways From Nadal’s Win

Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov has no titles to date on the clay – or at all this year. But it only takes one match to grab momentum. The Bulgarian, who reached the semi-finals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters last month, faces Jared Donaldson of the U.S.

In one of the more intriguing matchups, two-time semi-finalist Dominic Thiem meets a player who beat him on clay just last month. #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas swept Thiem 6-3, 6-2 en route to his maiden ATP World Tour final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

But after that, Thiem beat Nadal en route to his second Masters 1000 final (Madrid) and won his 10^th ATP World Tour title in Lyon.

In other matches worth keeping an eye on, 13^th seed Roberto Bautista Agut will face Colombian Santiago Giraldo; 30^th seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain meets Guido Andreozzi of Argentina; Pablo Carreno Busta, 10^th seed, will try to avoid an upset against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis; 26^th seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina plays Moldova’s Radu Albot; and Frenchman Gilles Simon will try to beat Sam Querrey of the U.S. for the fifth time (Simon leads FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 4-3).