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The quarterfinal match between the defending champion Jack Sock and Dominic Thiem is a match between two players who have enjoyed contrasting fortunes in the current season.
To even say that Jack Sock has had a horror of a season as a singles player this year will be an understatement. If 2017 was a year where he achieved dizzying heights, in 2018, he has gone to the depth of despair.
Last year, he won his first title at the Masters 1000 level at Paris, defying all odds and opposition. On the basis of that single big performance, he managed to qualify for the year-end World Tour Finals as well.
But 2018 has seen him struggle to remain competitive in his singles matches, even against much lower ranked players. The fact that he is still ranked 23 in the world, owes almost entirely to his title-winning run at Paris Masters 2017. Before coming to the Paris Masters 2018, he had lost a whopping 20 matches this year, and won only seven!
He was widely tipped to lose early in Paris Masters, and thus drop out of top 100. But like last year, possibly more than last year, he has started defying people’s (lack of) expectation again. He seems to have suddenly sprung to life on the hard courts of Paris, where he had achieved the biggest title of his career last year.
His opening round victory against Richard Gasquet was all the more surprising as the French man was coming off an impressive win over Denis Shapovalov. But Sock shocked him in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. He has followed that up with the decimation of Malek Jaziri in a pretty one-sided encounter. All of a sudden, Sock looks like a proper defending champion who, on this very current form, can shock anyone!
His quarterfinal opponent, Dominic Thiem is having one of the most successful seasons of his career, so far. This season, he has made to the final of his first Grand slam at the French Open. He was also involved in one of the contenders for “Match of the Year” at the U S Open Quarterfinal, where he lost very narrowly to Rafael Nadal in an epic 5-set encounter. He has won three titles this year, too.
In his opening round of Paris Masters 2018, he defeated Gilles Simon in straight sets, but in the round of 16, he faced a much stiffer competition from one of the most improved young players – Borna Coric. Thiem was eventually able to get the better of Coric in three tight sets. But his performance, especially his serve, was below par. His first serve per cent was a dismal 50 in this match.
With a slight drop in form for Thiem and an unexpected upsurge in Jack Sock’s form, suddenly this match promises to be quite competitive.
Prediction: Jack Sock to win in 3 Sets
