The German #1 seed will open his ATP Cologne 2 campaign against the Aussie, who pulled off an upset in the previous round against Fernando Verdasco. We also will predict the rest of Day 3 from the Lanxess Arena in Cologne.
ATP Cologne Day 3 Predictions
Steve Johnson vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Head to Head: First meeting
Steve Johnson is playing Cologne for the second straight week and looking to build off his Round of 16 appearance last week. He is also coming off a big first-round upset vs Marin Cilic and will be entering the match on a high. Davidovich Fokina is also coming off a big last week in Cologne making it all the way to the semifinal. He had no issues dispatching qualifier Damir Dzumhur in straight sets earlier today. The only advantage I see here is Johnson played yesterday and had the day off today to practice and rest.
Prediction Johnson in 3
Jan Lennard Struff vs Marco Cecchinato
Head to Head: 1-1
Struff played in Cologne last week as well while Cecchinato played the tournament in Sardinia and made it all the way to the final before losing to Laslo Djere in the last event of the year on clay. Struff was upset in round one by German qualifier Oscar Otte and will be looking to put that loss behind him and improve on that result. Both previous meetings were on outdoor clay which Cecchinato won while Struff beat him on outdoor hard in the US so I’m going with the German.
Prediction: Struff in 2
Alexander Zverev vs John Millman
Head to Head: 1-0 Zverev
Alexander “Sascha” Zverev is coming off winning the title last week and looks in really good shape to go far once again and most analysts are saying it’s his tournament to lose. Millman played a great match Tuesday versus Verdasco to pull off the upset, so this should be a good match. Millman lost last week to his brother Mischa is round one which we can consider another upset so he will be aiming to get his revenge on his brother. I just feel Zverev has too many weapons and one of the reasons Millman won Tuesday was that Verdasco serve deteriorated, which gave him lots of chances to break.
Prediction: Zverev in 2
Egor Gerasimov vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
Head to Head: 1-0 Auger-Aliassime
Egor Gerasimov, a qualifier from Belarus, managed to qualify and beat German Daniel Altmaier–and his reward is a date with the Canadian who finished last week as a runner up. Auger-Aliassime will look to do one better this week and take the title home. Gerasimov played in St. Petersburg last week losing in the first round to Evgeny Donskoy and will be looking to make a long run. They met in Marseille early in the year and Auger-Aliassime took that match in two sets on indoor hard so I see no reason as to why it would be any different.
Prediction: Auger-Aliassime in 2
Miomir Kecmanovic vs Adrian Mannarino
Head to Head: First meeting
Mannarino played the St. Petersburg Open last week losing in the first round to Ilya Ivaska but made the quarter-finals in doubles so he will be looking to improve on that result and finish the year strong. Kecmanovic was also in Russia last week and made the round of 16 losing to Cameron Norrie and will want to at least do one better. This match is a toss-up but Kecmanovic might be a little more fatigued as he played a tough three-setter vs Sumit Nagal in round one.
Prediction: Mannarino in 2
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