Day 2 is here! Day 1 in Nur-Sultan was full of exciting tennis and Day 2 promises to continue delivering! Who will take one step closer to a title and who will fall short? Read on to find out!
ATP Nur-Sultan Day 2 Predictions
Damir Dzumhur vs Yuichi Sugita
Head to Head: Never played
Damir Dzumhur was forced to qualify for this tournament and he delivered, taking out Yannik Hanfmann in the final qualifying round in straight sets to reach the main draw. Yuichi Sugita also had to qualify to make the main draw. He beat Marc Polmans 7-6(5) in the third set to set up a date with Dzumhur.
These two have never played before. Dzumhur, when he’s locked in mentally, possesses great variety and rally tolerance. Sugita is a solid baseliner, but his game doesn’t include any big weapons that can hurt Dzumhur too much from the backcourt. Expect some twist and turns, but ultimately, Dzumhur will move on.
Prediction: Dzumhur in 3
Lloyd Harris vs Egor Gerasimov
Head to Head: 2-0 Gerasimov
Lloyd Harris is having a successful indoor hard court season and that continued last week in Antwerp, where he qualified for the tournament and reached the quarterfinals before ultimately falling to eventual champion Ugo Humbert. Egor Gerasimov seemed to find his form finally last week, qualifying and making the round of 16 in Cologne. He lost in a third set tiebreak to Felix Auger-Aliassime, not a poor loss in the slightest.
Gerasimov leads the head to head 2-0, with both matchups on hard courts. These two have similar games in the sense that they desperately want to control the point with their big first serves and play more aggressive baseline games. Harris has played a ton of tennis lately, it’s possible that fatigue will start to catch up to him. I also trust Gerasimov’s controlled aggression from the baseline just a bit more, especially given things started to click last week in Cologne. Gerasimov moves on, but it will be close.
Prediction: Gerasimov in 3
Aslan Karatsev vs Andreas Seppi
Head to Head: never played
Aslan Karatsev is playing the tennis of his career since the hiatus. He’s won two clay court Challengers and showcasing a massive serve and huge groundstrokes. In his last tournament in St. Petersburg, he beat Tennys Sandgren before falling in three sets to Karen Khachanov. Karatsev had to qualify for this tournament, but didn’t have any issues, not losing a set in either of his qualifying matches. Andreas Seppi, on the other hand, has lost five matches in a row, including last week to Joao Sousa in Antwerp qualifying. Seppi looks like a shell of his former self.
These two have never played before. Karatsev is playing much better tennis compared to Seppi and the indoor hard surface suits his game perfectly. Look for Karatsev to cruise to a comfortable victory in this one.
Prediction: Karatsev in 2
Tennys Sandgren vs Jiri Vesely
Head to Head: 1-0 Vesely
Tennys Sandgren has lost a couple close matches during the indoor hard court season, falling to Aslan Karatsev and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in three sets. Jiri Vesely hasn’t played on indoor hard yet since the hiatus, but did reach the quarterfinals of Sardinia in his last tournament.
Vesely leads the head to head 1-0, having won in a clay court Challenger in their previous meeting. Vesely certainly has the bigger weapons in terms of his big lefty serve and forehand, but Sandgren is more stable from the backcourt. Given that Sandgren has played a couple matches on indoor hard already and Vesely hasn’t, along with Sandgren’s already consistent game and ability to force opponents to overhit, I like Sandgren in a tight one here.
Prediction: Sandgren in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
