You can’t help but be doubtful regarding Andy Murray’s chances of leaving the first round of the French Open unscathed, let alone escape with a convincing victory at that.
With a mere 16-7 record in 2017, Murray isn’t playing like the world’s top-ranked player that he really is. 12 of his 16 wins came in the first two months of the year, wherein he thankfully won his first and only tournament of the season at Qatar.
The standout Brit’s warm-up matches on clay have been far from expectations as well. He has just as many wins as losses on the surface this year (four), including a stunning first-round exit to World No. 29 Fabio Fognini at the Italian Open in straight sets just last week.
Nonetheless, Murray’s still no pushover at Roland Garros. He made it to the final round in last year’s edition of the French Open and has made the semifinals of the tournament in each of the last three seasons.
Furthermore, the 30-year-old Englishman has the benefit of having a very beatable opponent this Sunday in Andrey Kuznetsov. Murray won both of his head-to-head matches lifetime against Kuznetsov, most recently dominating the Russian last year in Beijing, 6-2, 6-1.
A struggling Murray entering the French Open has got to be music to the ears of Andrey Kuznetsov. The Moscow native should relish this opportunity to improve upon his career-best finish at Roland Garros, having made it to the third round of the tournament twice (2014 and 2016).
On the other hand, there’s no silver lining to be found in Kuznetsov’s disappointing campaign thus far in support of his bid at an upset this weekend. The 85th-ranked Russian has a 6-11 record this season, counting seven first-round exits. One of those early eliminations came at the hands of the only top 10 opponent he’s faced this year in World No. 9 Kei Nishikori back in January at the Australian Open.
Don’t expect Kuznetsov’s game to pick up on the courts of Roland Garros either, as he holds a losing record of 23-32 lifetime on clay.
For Kuznetsov to pull off a shocker this Sunday, he’ll need to take the opening set against Murray any which way he can. He often finds himself stumbling out of the gates, having gone a dismal 10-71 (12.3-percent winning percentage) after losing the first set throughout his nine-year professional career.
Writer’s Prediction
Murray (-650) wins his opening-round matchup with relative ease in straight sets.
