TennisSection previews the 2021 French Open as Pablo Carreno Busta (12) meets Steve Johnson in the Third Round on Friday June 4th, 2021.
Twelfth seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta will face unseeded American Steve Johnson in the Third Round of the 2021 French Open. Carreno Busta has been businesslike as usual, reaching this stage without much fanfare. Johnson is having a dream run here at Roland Garros 2021 after some very poor results lately; can he keep going by causing the massive upset here in Paris?
Pablo Carreno Busta is currently ranked #12 in the ATP world rankings and is the twelfth seed here at the 2021 French Open. The Spaniard is one of the most consistent players on the Tour and is extremely difficult to beat in these big tournaments. However, he has been in poor form of late, and lost early in Madrid before retiring in Rome. The Spaniard started strongly here at Roland Garros 2021 with a straight sets win over Norbert Gombos, and followed it with a four set win over Enzo Couacad, where he surprisingly lost the opening set before fighting back strongly. Due to Steve Johnson’s poor recent form, PCB enters this match as the massive favorite and is expected to advance to the Round of 16 here at Roland Garros 2021.
Steve Johnson is the number 88 player in the world at present, and has been in terribly poor form this year. The American had yet to win a match this year before the start of the 2021 French Open, and not many would have had high hopes for him here, especially when he went two sets to love down against Frances Tiafoe. He impressively fought back to win in five sets, and then had yet another five set win over Thiago Monteiro. He has been serving well, and is very solid from the baseline. Johnson will be delighted to have registered two tough wins here at Roland Garros 2021, but enters this match as the huge underdog against Pablo Carreno Busta. The Spaniard is by far the toughest opponent that he has faced thus far, and fatigue is surely a factor here after those two draining victories.
This will be the fifth meeting between the two players on the ATP Tour, with the head to head currently tied at 2-2. Steve Johnson won their last match in 2018, but Carreno Busta won the only meeting on clay. All things considered, this is a relatively straightforward match to predict, and it will end up being a three or four set win for Pablo Carreno Busta. Steve Johnson was once a top 20 player, but is not the player he once was, and is simply not on the same level as the Spaniard anymore. Pablo Carreno Busta is one of the most solid players on tour and I expect him to win here at the 2021 French Open. The American is surely fatigued after those two long matches, and I don’t expect him to pose much of a challenge to PCB here at Roland Garros 2021.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Pablo Carreno Busta to win.
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