French Open: Day 5 Preview and Picks
By RICKY DIMON
POTITO STARACE (-275) VS. ROBBY GINEPRI (+187)
Don’t believe all the bogus you hear about Americans being unable to win on clay. That was a one-year aberration. Ginepri, in fact, has reached the fourth round of the French Open and he took care of Sam Querrey Tuesday, arguably the United States’ best clay-court player.
Starace is the essence of a clay-court specialist and that’s why he is a considerable favorite in this one. But the 28-year-old Italian has been around for almost a decade and he has been past the second round of a Grand Slam only three times in his entire career. Sound the upset alert.
Pick: Ginepri in 5 sets.
TEIMURAZ GABASHVILI (-125) VS. GREGA ZEMLJA (-110)
On paper and according to the oddsmakers, this is the only real dead-even matchup at the French Open Thursday. I guess that’s what happens when you get two virtually unknown players pitted against one another.
Gabashvili has been on the tour far longer than Zemlja, but the Russian has never made it to the third round of a slam. On Tuesday, Gabashvili humiliated Daniel Koellerer in straight sets, though it sounded afterward like Koellerer was in some kind of depression even before the match started. Zemlja, meanwhile, scored an awesome four-set win over Juan Monaco. That will give the Slovak an incredible amount of confidence.
Pick: Zemlja in 4 sets.
PARLAY: (14) IVAN LJUBICIC (-275) VS. MARDY FISH (+187) and (28) LLEYTON HEWITT (-400) VS. DENIS ISTOMIN (+250)
Both Ljubicic and Hewitt are outstanding second-round plays. The big Croat looks like he should be better on faster surfaces, but Ljubicic has actually achieved his best results on the slow stuff. Fish, on the other hand, has never advanced further than the second round at Roland Garros. A first-round win for Fish constitutes a successful tournament and now he will be content to pack his bags.
Hewitt destroyed Jeremy Chardy, who was 5-2 in his previous two French Opens, in his opener and Istomin is not nearly the clay-court player that Chardy is. Hewitt is a virtual lock to win this one and he will probably do it in well under two hours.
Pick: Ljubicic in 3 sets and Hewitt in 3 sets.
JARMILA GROTH (-140) VS. KIMIKO DATE KRUMM (+125)
Date Krumm pulled off an emotional upset win over Dinara Safina in the first round. And just how amazing was it? Well, not only is Date Krumm 39 years old, but she could barely move in the third set due to an injured right calf.
Not to take anything away from Date Krumm because that was a true Herculean effort, but we all know that outcome had a lot more to do with Safina than it did with Date Krumm. The Japanese veteran said afterward that she even considered retiring from the match and now doesn’t know if she will recover fully in time for Round 2. I know it’s not fun to pick against a sentimental favorite, but it’s very smart.
Pick: Groth in 2 sets.