The dust has barely settled over Estoril and Munich, but tennis never sleeps. Already we are into Day 2 of the ATP Madrid Masters 1000 event and the matches are getting tastier.
Day 2 is a busy day in the Spanish capital. There are 10 Men’s Singles matches on the slate and, as always, LWOT will take you through each match and provide a prediction for each. In addition to this article, we split the other matches between two more articles. One features Fabio Fognini vs Carlos Taberner, and the other features Ugo Humbert vs Aslan Karatsev.
ATP Madrid Open Day 2 Predictions
Grigor Dimitrov vs Lloyd Harris
Head-to-head: First meeting
The South African has really established himself as a regular fixture on the main ATP Tour now. However, he doesn’t yet have a bank of form on clay on the main tour. Dimitrov is very capable on this surface though. He has a solid winning record om clay over the last two years and got two wins under his belt last time out.
Dimitrov’s serve should be a difficult one to break in Madrid and his movement will also stand him in good stead to break Harris. I am siding with the Bulgarian to win here.
Prediction: Dimitrov in 2
Federico Delbonis vs Pablo Carreno Busta
Head-to-head: Delbonis 4-2 Carreno Busta
It is interesting to see that Delbonis leads this head to head. Carreno Busta, in my opinion, has improved markedly in the last few years and it would surprise me if Delbonis was to win this one.
There’s no doubt that the Argentine is playing on his best surface and his game is well suited to Madrid but Carreno Busta will prefer the quicker through the air conditions too. The Spaniard is a good quick surface player and has an underrated serve. This could go three sets but the Spaniard should progress from this.
Prediction: Carreno Busta in 3
Reilly Opelka vs Dominik Koepfer
Head-to-head: Opelka 3-1 Koepfer
Despite the American’s poor form, he has the tools to perform well in this match. If Opelka is fully fit then Koepfer will find it very difficult to get a racket on the big serve. This will be Opelka’s first clay-court match since last year’s French Open however, and that was a poor performance as well.
In this case I have to side with the German. Though Koepfer’s form hasn’t been great either, he is still showing a bit more form and his movement on clay is improving. Again, this will probably go the distance but siding with someone that has lost six in a row isn’t something I can do.
Prediction: Koepfer in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
