Day 2 of the ATP Croatia Open will feature the remaining first-round matches. Who will prevail on Tuesday in the lovely seaside town of Umag?
ATP Croatia Open Day 2 Predictions
Andrey Rublev vs Robin Haase
Head-to-head: Rublev 3-1
Rublev won this event back in 2017 but two seasons later he’s still trying to regain that form. Anyhow, his blistering forehand needs a lot of time to set up and clay should work very much to his advantage in this matchup. Haase defeated the Russian here a year ago in the quarterfinals and you can expect it to extremely close again. With the Dutchman having a pretty poor clay court season, Rublev just seems to be playing better tennis at the moment.
Prediction: Rublev in 3
Paolo Lorenzi vs Peter Torebko
Head-to-head: Lorenzi 1-0
The Italian’s career is slowly coming to an end, and it shows in the 37-year-old’s results. Lorenzi can throw in a brilliant performance from time to time but bad days at the office happen to him increasingly more often. Peter Torebko might just be the guy to take advantage, having qualified for the tournament with two good wins over Daniel Altmaier and Filippo Baldi. It’s the second time the 31-year-old German has advanced through the qualifying to the main draw of an ATP Tour event and we expect Lorenzi, who’s much more experienced at this level to be able to play the big points better than his opponent.
Prediction: Lorenzi in 3
Taro Daniel vs Filip Krajinovic
Head-to-head: Krajinovic 4-0
Krajinovic decided to take a longer break and only play Wimbledon on grass (he lost to Dominik Koepfer in the first round). The Serbian has been excellent on clay this year, compiling a 17-3 record (only dropped matches to Tsitsipas, Berrettini and Dustin Brown). It’s hard to see him struggling against Taro Daniel, who has been very up and down this season, hitting rock bottom when he was smashed 1-6 0-6 by Lorenzo Musetti. Krajinovic is one of these players who have a game good enough to consistently beat the tour journeyman and with the same consistency fail against more talented guys. Daniel falls into that first category.
Prediction: Krajinovic in 2
Pablo Andujar vs Leonardo Mayer
Head-to-head: Tied 2-2
Surely the most exciting first-round clash, this one is a real tough nut to predict. Andujar has been very successful on the ATP Challenger Tour this season, claiming three titles (Marbella, Alicante, Prostejov) and reaching the final in his favorite tournament of the tour, the ATP Grand Prix Hassan II in Morocco (lost to Benoit Paire). Mayer has been playing at a higher level of the competition regularly, getting a good result from time to time (won a set off Nadal in Barcelona, reached Roland Garros fourth round (lost to Federer)). Leonardo Mayer won an ATP 500 title on clay before (Hamburg 2014) and he arguably has a higher ceiling but with so much match-play this season, in what’s probably going to be a tight battle, Andujar might just be more battle-ready.
Prediction: Andujar in 3
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