While Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic battle for survival, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka aim to seize control of Group A.

Tomas Berdych v. Marin Cilic

Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic won a combined four games in their opening round-robin matches. Both players came out totally flat and were shown the exit in less than an hour apiece by identical scores of 6-1 6-1.

If Wawrinka and Djokovic maintain the same level of play they displayed in their opening round-robin matches, Berdych and Cilic are going to have an extremely difficult time getting out of this group. As a result, winning tomorrow’s match is essentially a must for semifinal qualification.

The head-to-head in this matchup is in favor of the Czech, 5-4. But Cilic won their last two meetings, played at the two most recent Grand Slams. He beat Berdych in straight sets at both Wimbledon and the U. S. Open. Their last meeting on an indoor hard court took place in the final of Rotterdam in February. Berdych got the best of Cilic on this occasion to win his only title of the season.

This match is hard to project based off what we saw on Monday from these two, but don’t expect a blowout. Big serves and big groundstrokes will dictate the play and force these two big men to come up with the goods on their return games.

Cilic has made vast improvements under the tutelage of Goran Ivanisevic. His return game, movement, and ability to play first-strike tennis have grown by leaps and bounds. His lateral movement and ability to put big serves back into play have been better than Berdych’s this year, and in a match between two power players, the player who can put higher-quality returns into play and defend the baseline will have an advantage.

Prediction: Cilic in three sets

Novak Djokovic v. Stanislas Wawrinka

Prior to this tournament, this was projected to be arguably the worst match of the group because Wawrinka has been off his game for the last several months and Djokovic has been his usual self following the U. S. Open.

The winner of this match will be in the driver’s seat in Group A and will have an excellent shot of avoiding the winner of Group B in the semifinals, which at this point is likely Roger Federer.

Wawrinka and Djokovic last met in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Wawrinka prevailed in an epic five-set thriller before going on to win his first Grand Slam title only a few days later. This match marked Wawrinka’s first victory over Djokovic in over seven years.

Defeating Djokovic for the second time in a row is going to be very tough for the Swiss, especially considering that he is 3-15 against Djokovic overall and has lost no shortage of extremely tight matches against him.

The difficulty Wawrinka has against Djokovic is that he has to establish and sustain an extraordinarily high level of physical and mental dominance over such a long period of time to beat the Serb. Djokovic is beatable, but it doesn’t come easily and it doesn’t come quickly.

We saw the herculean effort Wawrinka needed to get through Djokovic in Australia, which was actually a match he was still very close to losing. Even though this is a best-of-three match, it would be shocking if Wawrinka is able to replicate his Australian Open performance.

Look for Djokovic to tighten the screws, provide Wawrinka with little to no breathing room, and get through this one in straight sets.

Prediction: Djokovic in two sets