Day two at the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina promises plenty of excitement. The slate includes three-time Major champion Andy Murray’s clash with home hope Tennys Sandgren, whilst top seed Benoit Paire is also in action. But who will advance?
Winston-Salem Open Day Two Predictions
Pablo Andujar vs Nicolas Jarry
Head-to-head: Jarry 1-0 Andujar
Pablo Andujar’s career has been severely derailed by a succession of injuries in recent seasons, but to the Spaniard’s credit, he has fought his way back into the top 70. He remains an exceptionally clean ball striker and a fine competitor. He will need both those attributes up against the powerful Nicolas Jarry, who last month won the first title of his career in Bastad. Both of these men are at their best on the clay and neither has yet played a hard-court match this summer. But Jarry looks to have the advantage on paper thanks to his big serve. That may just be a weapon Andujar has no answer for.
Prediction: Jarry in 3
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Jeremy Chardy vs Raymond Sarmiento
Head-to-head: first meeting
World #710 Raymond Sarmiento, a former All-American at the University of Southern California, will be the heavy underdog against the Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, a former Grand Slam quarterfinalist. The Frenchman has 268 ATP wins to his name having played 534 matches at tour-level. For Sarmiento, this will be his debut in an ATP tour match. But he did impress in coming through the qualifying, battling past fourth seed Chris Eubanks in three before dismissing Daniel Nguyen. But Chardy represents a massive step up in quality for the Californian. Expect Chardy to dictate proceedings with his forehand and book his place in the second round.
Prediction: Chardy in 2
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Andrey Rublev vs Thomas Fabbiano
Head-to-head: Fabbiano 1-0 Rublev
Andrey Rublev has found a rich vein of form lately, reaching the Hamburg Open final in July before defeating Roger Federer in straight-sets in the third round in Cincinnati. Despite not being one of the bigger players on tour, the Russian can summon thunderous power off the ground, particularly off the forehand side, and even the great Swiss proved unable to contend with the sort of pace that Rublev was able to generate.
Thomas Fabbiano did, however, manage to contain Rublev in their only previous meeting. But that 7-6 6-3 win did come four years ago in the qualifying at the Italian Open and Rublev has improved considerably since then. So too has Fabbiano, who has played some fine tennis this year, reaching the third round at the Australian Open and upsetting Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round at Wimbledon. But it is hard to see him surviving the Rublev onslaught.
Prediction: Rublev in 2
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Benoit Paire vs Prajnesh Gunneswaran
Head-to-head: Gunneswaran 1-0 Paire
Benoit Paire’s talent has never been in question, but the Frenchman has sometimes, and not entirely without justification, been accused of lacking application. In fact, he delivered one of his less focused performances to lose to Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the first round in Indian Wells in straight-sets. But it has been a generally impressive year for Paire, highlighted by runs to the second week at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as triumphs in Marrakesh and at the Lyon Open. Gunneswaran, meanwhile, has had relatively little success on tour, with just five wins so far in 2019. But he did look sharp in beating Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the first round at the Winston-Salem Open. Up against the power of Paire, however, he looks destined to struggle.
Prediction: Paire in 3
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