French Open Rd of 16

It's time for the Rd of 16 at the 2010 French Open.

Henin/Sharapova will finish tomorrow after they were stopped at one set all today. Once there is a winner in that one, the Rd of 16's will be complete.

This is always the gritty part of a Slam. For the most part, everyone who couldn't make a real dent in the tournament is out.

To try and sort through the matches, and pick out which ones to pay close attention to...here are a few predictions.

The Men

The Lock- Rafa is always a good lock on clay. He goes up against Belucci from Brazil. Belucci is sort of a mini-Nadal with big lefty strokes. He just doesn't have enough game to take him out, but I look for him to be a threat in a few years.

The Upset- My upset pick is Almagro (19) over Verdasco (7). It's the perfect equation for an upset. Take a tired, overplayed Verdasco coming off a 5 set marathon win and mix it with a talented, dangerous, relatively fresh shot-maker with a lot of heart= an upset.

The Dud- Cilic/Soderling on paper is a blockbuster. However, I think Cilic is feeling his last match against Mayer that went 5, and Soderling is playing awesome. I think Sod is going to take care of him without many problems. I hope I'm wrong because on paper, this match could be amazing.

Closer than you think- Fed/Wawrinka. I'm not quite brave enough to make this my upset pick, but I certainly think Stan Wawrinka is going to give Fed trouble. He has beaten him once already on the dirt and usually plays well against him. I also think Fed feels some pressure against him because he is his countryman and good friend. Keep a close eye on this one.

The Women

The Lock- Dementieva/Scheepers. Admittedly, I have never seen Scheepers hit a ball...and couldn't pick her out of a lineup. I really like the way Dementieva is quietly moving through the draw and look for her to win this one easy.

The Upset- Hantuchova over Jankovic. In the battle of could-be mental cases, I think Hantuchova takes out the 4 seed.

The Dud- Venus/Petrova. I think Venus is going to roll through Nadia. Perhaps it's purely a hunch, but I think Venus is playing at an extremely high level right now.

Closer than you think- Peer/Serena. Serena seems to be under the weather and was really tested in her last match. Peer has a lot of fight in her and is a very good clay courter. I look for this one to be tight.

These next few rounds should be very interesting. Stay tuned to Tiebreak's Blog, Twitter, and Podcast for much more info on the 2010 French Open.

New Podcast coming very soon.

Full coverage tomorrow on Tiebreak's Twitter.

TT