All eight third round singles matches, as well as seven of eight second round doubles matches, will take place on Thursday. Three of the world’s top four singles players remain, who combined have claimed 13 singles titles in 2021. And the last two spots in the ATP Finals are still up for grabs, with Casper Ruud, Hubi Hurkacz, and Cam Norrie all capable of claiming those spots this week. A Norrie win on Thursday, paired with a Hurkacz loss, would bring those two players to a tie in the race for the eighth spot in Turin.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing matchup, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Thursday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (16) – Fourth on Court Central
The Olympic gold medalist has compiled quite a record this season. He’s now 53-13, and since Tokyo, is 26-2 on hard courts. Those two losses were a five-setter against Novak Djokovic in the US Open semifinals, and a final-set tiebreak against Taylor Fritz in Indian Wells. Meanwhile, Dimitrov has been playing some of his best tennis in years, leading him to the semifinals in both San Diego and Indian Wells. Sascha is 2-1 against Grigor, though they haven’t played in over five years. Dimitrov’s only victory came in 2014, when Zverev was only 16-year-old, and still ranked outside the top 100. But on an indoor hard court, where Sascha has won four titles over the last three years, the German is a strong favorite to advance.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Hubert Hurkacz (7) vs. Dominik Koepfer (LL) – Hurkacz is 9-3 over the last six weeks. Koepfer outlasted Andy Murray on Monday by a score of 11-9 in the third set tiebreak, and ended Felix Auger-Aliassime’s Turin hopes by upsetting the Canadian on Wednesday.
James Duckworth vs. Alexei Popyrin (LL) – This is a battle of two Australians who both achieved career-high rankings in 2021. Duckworth took out Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round, while Popyrin received a first-set retirement from an injured Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday.
Cameron Norrie (10) vs. Taylor Fritz – Norrie accumulated his 50th win of the season on Wednesday, and won the biggest title of his career last month at Indian Wells. Fritz upended Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, and was the runner-up a week ago in St. Petersburg.
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Gael Monfils (15) – Monfils seemed to suggest in press on Wednesday that he may not play this match, as he was planning to get an x-ray after defeating fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. If he does play, he’ll face the daunting task of turning around one of the sport’s most one-sided head-to-heads, as Djokovic leads Monfils 17-0.
Daniil Medvedev (2) vs. Sebastian Korda – Korda has already defeated two red-hot players this week in Marin Cilic and Aslan Karatsev. Medvedev is the defending champion of this tournament, and has won 18 of his last 20 matches.
Casper Ruud (11) vs. Marcos Giron (Q) – This is the second year in a row Giron has come through qualifying to reach the third round in Bercy. Over the weekend, he saved six match points and came back from 5-0 down in the third set against Gilles Simon. Ruud has advanced to the quarterfinals or better at seven of his last nine events.
Carlos Alcaraz vs. Hugo Gaston (Q) – Alcaraz overcame an in-form Jannik Sinner on Wednesday, while the Frenchman Gaston thrilled the Parisian crowd with a three-set victory over Pablo Carreno Busta.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.
