The post-Wimbledon clay season is here! It’s been fascinating watching the grass-court action unfold, but ATP Bastad will provide a welcomed attraction for the clay courters on the ATP Tour! Who will get a step closer to the title and who will fall short? Read on for my best guesses! We also predict the rest of the day’s matches, in two other articles. One features Emil Ruusuvuori vs Mikael Ymer, and the other highlights Pedro Martinez vs Dennis Novak.
ATP Bastad Day 2 Predictions
Arthur Rinderknech vs Pedro Sousa
Head to Head: never played
Arthur Rinderknech got through qualifying in Bastad without losing a set, taking down Oscar Gutierrez and Thomas Fabbiano. Rinderknech won over 80% of his service points in both of those matches. Pedro Sousa will be happy to get back onto the red clay, as he won only 7 games in a Wimbledon defeat to Lorenzo Sonego.
These two have never played before. This match will come down to who can take control of the baseline and get the first strike in during rallies. Sousa will want to control the court with his forehand, while Rinderknech effectively uses his first serve to set up short balls that he puts away with ease. Sousa will have to serve better than he did against Sonego, as he only won 60% of his first serves and 32% of his second serves. I don’t trust Sousa to put himself in position to effectively use his forehand and the huge Rinderknech serve to the Sousa backhand will be very effective.
Prediction: Rinderknech in 2
Radu Albot vs Holger Rune
Head to Head: never played
Radu Albot will be looking to change his fortunes on the clay, having lost four of his last five matches (all on grass). In his straight-sets Wimbledon loss to James Duckworth, he only won 60% of his first serves and 35% of his second serves. Holger Rune is surprisingly having an excellent, breakthrough season. He’s played a ton on clay, and just last week, made the quarterfinals of the clay-court Perugia.
These two have never played before. Albot is 0-3 on clay for the season and completely out-of-form. When he’s playing well, he’s tough to hit through from the baseline, but not in this former. Rune’s cramping problems seem to be a thing of the past and he’s really being aggressive from both wings. Rune’s serve has been solid and set up points well for him, and he’s really constructing points nicely. This should be a straightforward win for Rune.
Prediction: Rune in 2
Henri Laaksonen vs Lorenzo Musetti
Head to Head: never played
Henri Laaksonen has played a lot of tennis lately. He has played 4 matches in the past 3 days, with the past 2 matches (in qualifying) being three-setters. Laaksonen beat Yosuke Watanuki and Andrej Martin 3 sets to advance to this main draw matchup against Musetti. Musetti hasn’t played a match since a straight-sets loss to Hubert Hurkacz in Wimbledon. Musetti’s consistency, variety, and shot-making on clay give him so many options to work with.
These two have never played before. Laaksonen should surely be fatiguing from playing so much tennis at some point and there’s nothing he can do to hurt Musetti. Musetti should get the upper-hand on most of the baseline exchanges, having superior rally tolerance and better depth-of-shot. Musetti should win this match with ease.
Prediction: Musetti in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
