Day three at the ATP St Petersburg Open looks set to feature plenty of entertaining tennis, with seven matches on the schedule. As ever, we here at the LWOS tennis department will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, including Daniil Medvedev vs Richard Gasquet. But who will advance and who will be defeated?
ATP St Petersburg Open Day Three Predictions
Emilio Gomez vs Roman Safiullin
Head-to-head: first meeting
Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez made headlines recently by qualifying for the main draw at Roland Garros, 30 years after his father, Andres Gomez, beat Andre Agassi to win the title in Paris. The younger Gomez did not come close to replicating his father’s feat, losing in the first round to Lorenzo Sonego and he followed that with a first-round loss at the Barcelona Challenger. His struggles continued in the St Petersburg qualifying, where he barely scraped past Teymuraz Gabashvili before losing to Pavel Kotov.
But he was handed a reprieve as a lucky loser and will face wildcard Roman Safiullin for a place in the second round. The Russian has struggled since the season resumed in August, winning only a handful of matches, but he may well benefit from the return to playing indoors. He will also be able to call upon the support of the crowd in St Petersburg. In what promises to be a closely contested match, that could well give him a decisive advantage.
Prediction: Safiullin in 3
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Cameron Norrie vs Miomir Kecmanovic
Head-to-head: first meeting
On paper, this looks like a match that could go either way. Miomir Kecmanovic’s first-round win over 2010 St Petersburg champion Mikhail Kukushkin was largely impressive, but Kecmanovic will surely be concerned by his struggles in closing it out. He wasted three consecutive match points on his own serve, before eventually sealing a 6-3 7-6 win in the tiebreak with his fifth match point. He may not be able to afford such carelessness against Cameron Norrie.
The Briton scored a fine win of his own in the first round, upsetting the eight seed Taylor Fritz, who is coincidentally also his doubles partner this week. His unusually flat groundstrokes troubled the American on the relatively low-bouncing indoor hard court at the Sibur Arena. His good court coverage and solid baseline play should stand him good stead once again when he takes on Kecmanovic, although do not be surprised to see this match go the distance.
Prediction: Norrie in 3
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Stan Wawrinka vs Evgeny Donskoy
Head-to-head: first meeting
Stan Wawrinka came perilously close to making an early exit at the ATP St Petersburg Open, but saved three match points to come from a set down to beat Dan Evans 3-6 7-6 7-5. The last time he saved a match point playing against Evans, he went on to win the US Open. Whether Wawrinka will once again be able to use coming back from the brink against the Briton as a springboard towards glory is unclear, but it was surely a confidence-building win for the Swiss.
Never the most consistent performer, Wawrinka has become extremely erratic since returning from his knee surgery, but he has managed to break back into the top 20 and has a solid 11-5 record for the year. Evgeny Donskoy, meanwhile, has caused some big shocks in the past, even beating Roger Federer, but he has never quite managed to establish himself at ATP-level. If Wawrinka can maintain his concentration, he should be able to overpower Donskoy.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 2
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