Day 2 of the ATP St. Petersburg Open will see the conclusion of a host of first round matches. The headline act is local favorite Andrey Rublev, who is the fifth seed this week, bidding to win his first title of the season.
ATP St. Petersburg Open Day 2 Predictions
Janko Tipsarevic vs Damir Dzumhur
Head-To-Head: First meeting
Former World No.8 Janko Tipsarevic announced his retirement from the game at the end of this season a few months ago, but was quick to point out there will be no room for sentimentality as he still has some tennis left in him. Tipsarevic has been decimated by a handful of injuries throughout his career – seven surgeries to be exact – and only picked up his first victory on the main tour in nearly two years when he beat Bradley Klahn at the Miami Masters.
The Serb is halfway to reaching double figures in terms of match wins at tour-level in 2019, but a meeting against the unpredictable Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who entered the main draw as lucky loser, provides a good chance to help attain that goal. Dzumhur is notorious for putting up erratic performances and he squandered a match point in his defeat to Lukas Rosol in the final round of qualifying (a player whose record this year has been abysmal). Tipsarevic can certainly play well enough to take advantage of Dzumhur’s sloppiness.
Prediction: Tipsarevic in 3
Roberto Carballes Baena vs Martin Klizan
Head-To-Head: First meeting
This will be an encounter between two battling baseliners. Carballes Baena is naturally a clay-court campaigner but he will plug away all day regardless of the surface. Martin Klizan, on the other hand, is a perennial danger on these courts despite not being in the best form lately. The Slovak captured the biggest title of his career on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam in 2016, a feat which puts into perspective the 30-year-old’s mettle in spite of inconsistency and injuries. Klizan finished runner-up to Dominic Thiem last year in St. Petersburg. I think he will peak again this week and snap his four-match losing streak against Carballes Baena.
Prediction: Klizan in 3
Lukas Rosol vs Egor Gerasimov
Head-To-Head: First meeting
Lukas Rosol collected a much-needed victory against Damir Dzumhur in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw of a tour-level tournament for the first time since losing in the first round of the French Open at the end of May. Egor Gerasimov reached the quarterfinal in St. Petersburg last year before losing to Adrian Mannarino. The Belarusian, like Rosol, has stared occasionally on the main tour with most his showings coming on the Challenger circuit. However, both ranking and form put the man from Minsk a slight favorite here.
Prediction: Gerasimov in 3
Andrey Rublev vs Ilya Ivashka
Head-To-Head: First meeting
12 months ago, Andrey Rublev was fast becoming tennis’ forgotten man, but he has since reemerged into reckoning during the North American hard-court swing as a leader of the Next Gen project. The talented Russian reached back-to-back quarterfinals at Western & Southern Open and Winston-Salem in the build-up to the US Open. One result that stood out from the rest was of course his crushing defeat of Roger Federer in Cincinnati, taking out the 7seven-time champion, 6-3 6-4, in what turned out to be the Swiss star’s fastest loss in 16 years.
Ilya Ivashka will hope to halt Rublev’s second reincarnation when they meet in the first round. The man from Belarus made light work of Italian journeyman Matteo Viola in the final round of qualifying by winning the match in just under an hour. But despite Ivashka’s convincing win, Rublev will a different proposition altogether. Gone are the days when Rublev would struggle to close out wins against players of Ivashka’s caliber. The Russian is on a roll right now.
Prediction: Rublev in 2
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