Day 3 of the ATP Andalucia Open in Marbella is almost upon us. It features the opening matches of top seed and home favorite Pablo Carreno Busta, as well as fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. On paper it’s hardly the most interesting day of tennis you’ll find, but let’s see what we have anyway.
ATP Marbella Day 3 Predictions
Federico Delbonis vs Norbert Gombos
Head-to-head: 0-0
Up until this week, Slovakian Gombos had won just one of his last nine matches. To make matters even worse, in those eight losses only won two sets. It’s somewhat of a miracle he even managed to beat Juan Ignacio Londero in the opening round here, especially after being a set down. Delbonis may be ranked #85 in the world now and not turned into the player many expected years ago when he scored wins against the likes of Roger Federer and Andy Murray, but he’s still a player where on his day can compete with most players on tour on this surface. This should be a comfortable win for the Argentine.
Prediction: Delbonis in 2
Pablo Carreno Busta vs Mario Vilella Martinez
Head-to-head: Carreno Busta 1-0
25-year-old Martinez is what you could consider a journeyman, traveling around the world, playing Challengers, and trying to qualify for main draw ATP events–unfortunately, often not succeeding. He has, however, qualified this week and with a nice draw and win over Zapata Miralles in the first round, his reward is a showdown with the top seed. Carreno Busta has shown time and time again that he belongs at the very top of the game, being ranked 15 now with a semifinal showing at the US Open and quarterfinal at Roland Garros last year, his results just prove it. You don’t often want to say a match is going to be a whitewash, but this may be as one-sided as most matches get at this level.
Prediction: Carreno Busta in 2
Facundo Bagnis vs Soonwoo Kwon
Head-to-head: 0-0
A bit of a strange match here not many expected. Cerundolo was the favorite to beat Bagnis on Tuesday whilst 17 year old Rune was the heavy favorite to beat the South Korean, despite Kwon being seeded. On a hardcourt this wouldn’t really be a contest; Known would comfortably take home the win. But given his first ever ATP win on the surface just came on Monday, it’s left a lot of us confused about just how good the 23-year-old is on clay. Purely based on the fact he beat the young and talented Rune, I’ll give the South Korean a good chance of progressing further here.
Prediction: Kwon in 3
Ricardas Berankis vs Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Head-to-head: 1-1
When you look at this matchup it’s pretty much gone as expected in the past–Ramos won their only clay court meeting and Berankis won their only hard court encounter. It’s honestly hard to see anything else happening here. Ramos might not be the same player who once made the Monte Carlo final, but he’s still kept a fairly good level on the surface to be able to get fairly steady results. Just last month, he made the Cordoba final as well as the Buenos Aires semifinal.
Prediction: Ramos-Vinolas in 2
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