French Open 2021: can Kevin Krawietz strike for the third time in a row?
And what chances does the second German Tim Pütz, who remained in the doubles competition, have?
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Jun 05, 2021, 11:06 pm
Two years ago it was a real sensation and not really to be expected in last year's Corona season: To the surprise of many experts and fans, Kevin Krawietz and his partner Andreas Mies entered the French Open victory lists twice in a row. The German team secured the trophy in 2019 with a two-set win in the final against the hosts Jérémy Chardy / Fabrice Martin and in 2020 with a win in two rounds against the Croatian-Brazilian pairing Mate Pavic / Bruno Soares.
And in this year's edition of the Paris Grand Slam tournament, Krawietz is still in the competition, after an exciting 6: 3, -3: 6, -6: 3 exchange of blows with the seven seeded team Jamie Murray (Great Britain) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) already in the quarter-finals. The biggest change compared to the previous two years is apparently the new partner on Krawietz's side: Horia Tecau. Together with the Romanian, the Upper Franconian is ninth in the Stade Roland Garros. As reported , Andreas Mies has to take a break after his knee operation in February and will not be part of the big season highlight, the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Early final?
According to the statistics, the dispute, which is now waiting in the round of the last eight pairings for Krawietz / Tecau, is an early final, as Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (both Colombia) are against the current world number two. In the current season, the German-Romanian pairing suffered a clear 4: 6, 2: 6 defeat in the final of the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Barcelona - also played on clay -. But with the confidence of a double triumph at the French Open Championships, revenge is not unrealistic. Where if not in the city of love, Krawietz can compete against any pair of opponents with a broad chest.
Tim Pütz is also part of the game: The one in doubles in world number 38 is at the side of his partner Hugo Nys, who competes for the Principality of Monaco, in the round of 16 and is playing in the last match on the Simonne-Mathieu Court against Romain Arneodo (also Monaco) and Benoit Paire (France). The chances of advancing to the quarter-finals are not bad: Not only are Pütz and Nys ranked significantly higher than their challengers in the double ranking, their performances in the last few weeks are also more than impressive.
The Hessian and the 30-year-old Monegasse collected two tournament victories on clay in the blissful month of May. Both successes in Estoril and Lyon achieved the work colleagues with final victories in the Champions tie-break against the British pairing Luke Bambridge / Dominic Inglot and against the French Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. The fact that a possible decision set in the double competition of the French Open is played out as a completely normal round is therefore not necessarily a disadvantage. If the match was successful for Pütz / Nys, the two Kazakhs Alexander Bublik and Andrey Golubev would wait in the quarter-finals - with all due respect, not an impossible task.
Here the double tableau in Paris
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