Wednesday at the 2020 ATP Adelaide International will feature the remaining second round clashes. The top seeds will take the court, including Andrey Rublev and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Who do you think will prevail?
ATP Adelaide International Day 4 Predictions
Pablo Carreno Busta vs Jeremy Chardy
Head-to-head: Chardy 4-1
The pair have split their hardcourt meetings with Jeremy Chardy somewhat surprisingly leading 3-0 on clay courts. The Frenchman is coming off a solid week in Doha and kept up the good form, defeating his compatriot Gilles Simon in the first round.
Pablo Carreno Busta played doubles for Spain at the ATP Cup, coming up with five victories before finally succumbing to Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki in the deciding rubber of the championship match. He might not have played singles this year yet, but the Spaniard got plenty of playtime and probably won’t be hampered by rust. Expect it to be rather close, but with Chardy’s recent level, I’m tempted to go with the Frenchman’s blistering forehand to make the difference in this matchup.
Prediction: Chardy in 3
Laslo Djere vs Lloyd Harris
Head-to-head: First meeting
Lloyd Harris has proven that his very fine performance at the ATP Cup wasn’t an accident. The South African has qualified to the main draw here beating Mikhail Haliak and Stephane Robert and got the better of Christian Garin to reach the second round. On the other side of the net will be Serbia’s Laslo Djere. Having to survive a very tough first-round matchup against Alexei Popyrin, Djere found a way to advance and has to be quite happy with his draw.
But he shouldn’t expect victory to come easy here. Harris is a very underrated player, who has a seemingly lousy technique but produces easy power and acceleration off both wings. Although he might be wildly inconsistent at times, the South African can blow his opponents off the court when he’s on. Laslo Djere doesn’t really possess this kind of ability and if Harris comes out playing as well as he’s been recently, Djere might not have much to look for in this match.
Prediction: Harris in 2
James Duckworth vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
Head-to-head: Duckworth 1-0
Felix Auger-Aliassime is coming off a disastrous performance at the ATP Cup. Despite clinching an opening win against Michail Pervolarakis, the Canadian went on to lose to John Millman, Jan-Lennard Struff, and Dusan Lajovic, not taking a single set in the process.
James Duckworth might seem like an easy opponent on paper. But his all-court game should be tough to handle for someone who’ll be desperately looking for rhythm and confidence. On top of that, Duckworth seems to do very well behind the home crowds. The Aussie was sublime in dismantling Federico Delbonis in the first round and we’ll prove a very tough contender here.
Prediction: Duckworth in 3
Sam Querrey vs Andrey Rublev
Head-to-head: 1-1
Although he might be considerably weary from his Doha winning run last week, Andrey Rublev will be coming into this clash as a slight favorite. The Russian beat his opponent in their only hard court meeting, last year in Winston-Salem. It seems like Rublev has been steadily developing since that and should be a regular title contender now.
What might help Sam Querrey is that he’s already played a match here in Adelaide. The American faced a tough test against Gregoire Barrere and only managed to prevail in a third set tie-breaker. But the Russian is playing what might be the best tennis of his career at the moment. With a couple days of rest since the Doha final, he’ll be as dangerous as ever.
Prediction: Rublev in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
