Three seeds failed at the first hurdle at the 2019 Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, Morocco. Laslo Djere’s high ranking still feels kind of superficial and wrong, and he has a lot to prove in the upcoming months. Fernando Verdasco and Fabio Fognini remain players with insane potential but their mentalities still don’t allow them to reach that level frequently. Day 3 follows as four second-round matches are to take place.
ATP Marrakech Day 3 Predictions
Robin Haase vs Lorenzo Sonego
Head to head: Haase 1-0
Is picking Sonego even controversial here? Everyone knows what Robin Haase can do, but his recent results have been quite poor and his first round win against Malek Jaziri was a little easier than expected. However, Sonego has already beaten the Dutch player once and played very consistent tennis over the past few months. He seems to shine the most on clay and already has three matches under his belt here, having come through the qualifying draw. Encouraged by his win over Laslo Djere in the first round, we’re tempted to pick the Italian to win, although you can expect a close battle.
Prediction: Sonego in 3
Adrian Menendez-Maceiras vs Taro Daniel
Head to head: Menendez-Maceiras 1-0
Taro Daniel is thought to be an overwhelming favourite by the bookmakers, but we don’t really think that’s the case. Okay, he stomped Mischa Zverev in the first round, but we presume it’s just a matter of his opponent’s disastrous form. The Japanese hasn’t played well in a while and we don’t think coming back to his favourite surface will suddenly turn the tables. To be fair, Menendez-Maceiras was also in a bit of a slump recently, but after getting through three opponents here, including Fernando Verdasco, we give him around a 50% shot to win this match.
Prediction: Menendez-Maceiras in 3
Guido Andreozzi vs Gilles Simon
Head to head: First meeting
Another tough one to predict, both looked very convincing in their first-round matches. Andreozzi made a bit of an upset, beating Albert Ramos Vinolas while Simon rolled over Josef Kovalik. They’ve never played each other and although the Frenchman’s record this season doesn’t look too convincing, we think he can outrun the Argentinian and we believe in his unique sense of finding the right tactic and knowing which shot to play at the exact time.
Prediction: Simon in 2
Kyle Edmund vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Head to head: First meeting
The blockbuster clash of the second round and a battle of two really huge forehands. This is going to be really exciting and presumably played at a very high standard. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got back to his winning ways in February with a title in Montpellier, while Kyle Edmund enjoyed a great Sunshine Double with two round four appearances (lost to Federer and Isner). As both had very comfortable first round victories and there are no previous matches to refer to, we look at their recent achievements to try to get a pick here. Kyle Edmund left a huge impression in March and we always loved his big forehand on clay (defeated Djokovic last year, got a set off Nadal in Monte Carlo 2017), which makes us just a little bit more comfortable with choosing the Brit.
Prediction: Edmund in 3
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
