It will be a busy day at the 2020 ATP ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, with eight singles matches to be played. We’re predicting four of those matches in this article. We also have predictions for the other four, including top-seed Daniil Medvedev on a possible upset alert against Vasek Pospisil. Who do you think will advance?
ATP Rotterdam Day 3 Predictions
Jannik Sinner vs Radu Albot
Head-to-head: First meeting
Jannik Sinner was the biggest sensation of last November, capping off his season with consecutive titles at the Next Gen Finals and Ortisei Challenger. The Italian has only won one match so far this season but the standard of the opposition has been rather high. Playing Radu Albot here should provide him a much-needed break.
The Moldovan at his best is a very solid baseliner, but he’s also been struggling to kick off his season. After losing all his ATP Cup matches in straight sets, the Moldovan had to pull out of all his next events. Sinner will be in better match rhythm and has the impressive power to push Albot behind the baseline.
Prediction: Sinner in 2
Roberto Bautista Agut vs Pablo Carreno Busta
Head-to-head: 2-2
Two extremely consistent Spanish baseliners will take on each other on Wednesday in Rotterdam. While indoors should usually work in Roberto Bautista Agut’s favor, the surface at this event is reported to be rather slow for an indoor hard event. This makes the World No.12’s backhand much less dangerous, forcing him to rely on his forehand to dictate the play.
Pablo Carreno Busta had a very good performance against Adrian Mannarino but struggled heavily with his break point conversion rate. If the Spaniard can somehow improve on that, I believe his consistency can overcome the fact that it’s Bautista Agut who has the big weapon in this matchup – the forehand. Carreno Busta will try to exploit his compatriot’s weakness and I expect him to succeed.
Prediction: Carreno Busta in 3
Karen Khachanov vs Daniel Evans
Head-to-head: First meeting
For all we know, this should be a cracker. Both players have games that are very well suited to this surface. They also opened their campaigns with great straight-set wins (Evans over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Khachanov over Fabio Fognini).
The Russian has the obvious power advantage but Evans does have a bag of tricks ready to derail him. Although the Brit’s slice will knife through the court, Khachanov generally handles this type of spin well. The Russian has a bigger serve too and more constant weaponry to rely on in high-pressure moments. Expect it to be a nail-biter.
Prediction: Khachanov in 3
Grigor Dimitrov vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
Head-to-head: Auger-Aliassime 1-0
A couple of players who struggled with their game lately and disappointed at the Australian Open. Felix Auger-Aliassime can’t really transform his raw talent to consistency but everyone knows how good he can be when he’s on. Grigor Dimitrov has been expected to achieve great stuff in tennis for years now, but it’s been a very up-and-down campaign.
Dimitrov took down Denis Shapovalov in a fairly solid first-round performance, proving he simply has many more ways to win the points. The Bulgarian is very flexible and is surprisingly good in defense, which might be the key to the match here. Even if the former World No.3’s gameplan doesn’t exactly pan out, he can still dig in and find a way to the victory. Auger-Aliassime hasn’t necessarily shown that ability yet.
Prediction: Dimitrov in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
Disagree with our ATP Rotterdam Day 3 Predictions? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
