Seeded 10th, Sam Querrey will face a tough opener against Henri Laaksonen in the first round of the 2021 ATP Great Ocean Road Open. Meanwhile, the Spanish prodigy Carlos Alcaraz is contesting his first Tour-level match on hard courts, trying to get ready for the Australian Open. Who do you think will make it to the second round?
We’re predicting all 15 of today’s matches, between this and three other articles. One article features Jordan Thompson vs Gianluca Mager, another headlines John-Patrick Smith vs Tennys Sandgren, and the last features Damir Dzumhur vs Federico Delbonis.
ATP Great Ocean Road Open Day 2 Predictions
Carlos Alcaraz vs Attila Balazs
Head-to-head: First meeting
By qualifying for the Australian Open recently, Carlos Alcaraz showed there is much more to his game on surfaces other than clay than we thought. The Spanish youngster has proven to be an expert at winning tough battles, even if he’s not playing his best tennis. Will that come in handy in that one? Not necessarily, as Attila Balazs hasn’t been doing too hot lately himself and there is a good chance Alcaraz dictates the play well enough with his forehand to dominate.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 2
Roman Safiullin vs Sergiy Stakhovsky
Head-to-head: Stakhovsky 1-0
Roman Safiullin had a great season on the ATP Challenger Tour, finishing very high on the most match wins leaderboard. One of the players to defeat him was Sergiy Stakhovsky though, who took him out in November in Bratislava. Rather in the twilight of his career, the Ukrainian is a very cunning player that always has a few tricks up his sleeve. Qualifying for the Australian Open he showed a lot of determination to grind out the wins and he might need that grit again if he wants to come out on top here.
Prediction: Stakhovsky in 3
Thiago Monteiro vs Vasek Pospisil
Head-to-head: First meeting
Vasek Pospisil quietly had one of the best seasons of his career last year, culminating in reaching the final at the Sofia Open. The Canadian plays a very versatile attacking game and should be able to keep Thiago Monteiro on the back foot from the get-go. The Brazilian rarely plays his best outside of clay and is simply a far less good hard court player than Pospisil.
Prediction: Pospisil in 2
Sam Querrey vs Henri Laaksonen
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Head-to-head: Querrey 1-0
Sam Querrey won their only meeting on hard courts five years ago and this one is likely to be much closer. The American appeared in Delray Beach at the beginning of January, throwing in a couple of very mixed performances. Henri Laaksonen made a solid effort to qualify for the Australian Open though and keeps a much steadier level at this stage of their careers. Querrey’s power is something impossible to ignore and the upside of having a big arsenal of weapons might just end up being too much.
Prediction: Querrey in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
