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5/30/08 9:07 PM | Ricky Dimon
One of the hottest players on the tour meets one of the most dangerous when Stanislas Wawrinka and Fernando Gonzalez square off in the third round of the French Open on Saturday. Get ready for some firepower off the ground.
One of the marquee third-round matchups and the only all-seeded affair in the first quarter of the French Open draw pits 9th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka against No. 24 seed Fernando Gonzalez. It is their first encounter since 2006, when all four of their head-to-head meetings took place. Gonzalez took all four, including one on clay in straight sets at the Masters Series Rome.
Two years later, however, Wawrinka is a vastly different player. The Swiss is up to No. 10 in the world on the heels of making it to the semifinals in Barcelona and finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the Masters Series Rome, and he has kept up that blistering pace so far at the French Open. Dealt a tough draw in his opener, Wawrinka made surprisingly short work of Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. He then ran into talented 19-year-old Marin Cilic of Croatia and sent him home 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 6-1.
That's not exactly the essence of a friendly draw for Wawrinka through two rounds, and it certainly doesn't get any easier with Gonzalez. The Chilean, like Marat Safin, is one of the most up-and-down players in tennis, but when he is clicking he is almost impossible to beat. His run to the 2007 Australian Open final proved that, and his ever-present monstrous forehand offers a continuous reminder of his potential. It's a potential that has yielded two clay-court titles this season, first in Vina Del Mar and again last month in Munich.
Gonzalez will need to display the form he showed over those two weeks if he hopes to upset Wawrinka. The key to this match will most likely be Wawrinka's down-the-line one-handed backhand, a lethal weapon. Gonzalez likes to run around his backhand all day at the baseline, so if Wawrinka can pound away at the backhand corner of the court, he should be able to consistently open up the deuce side for his down-the-line backhand. If Gonzalez catches fire with his forehand he has the potential to ride it all the way to victory, but Wawrinka in a tight four-setter is the pick.
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