Day 2 at the ATP Adelaide Open will feature some exciting first round matches. With stars like Gael Monfils, Karen Khachanov, and Marin Cilic playing, the tournament promises to be an entertaining one. We also predict the day’s four other matches in a separate article.
ATP Adelaide Day 2 Predictions
Thanasi Kokkinakis vs John Millman
Head-to-head: First Meeting
Thanasi Kokkinakis impressed everyone when he came close to dispatching Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the draw at the Australian Open 2021. He was coming back from a drop in performance after his career high ranking in 2015. After his Australian Open heroics, Kokkinakis fell of the radar a bit on the main tour, and resorted to playing challengers. That helped him visibly, as he cracked the top-200 after 2 years. Kokkinakis is certainly a dangerous player in the Australian conditions, and is coming off a fairly successful year. John Millman on the other hand, didn’t have a single memorable outing in 2021. He was unable to convert the starts he got, hence the deepest he got into any draw was the quarterfinals. It is going to be a challenge for him to play Kokkinakis considering his age, but I see Millman scraping through.
Prediction: Millman in 3
Benjamin Bonzi vs Mikael Ymer
Head-to-head: First Meeting
Benjamin Bonzi is coming into the match after an outstanding season. He made a staggering seven challenger finals, and came out as the champion in six of them. Such kind of consistency is extremely rare on the challenger tour, and he deserves all the credit. However, his performance has declined in the last few tournaments. Mikael Ymer, on the other hand, had an average outing last year. He had a great chance to make a breakthrough when he reached the final at the ATP Winston Salem, but his opponent Ilya Ivashka was too hot to handle for him. The hard hitting swede fell off a bit after the loss in the final, but he will surely rediscover his form on the Australian hard courts, where he made a mark last year. Bonzi has had too terrific of a year to be written off, but we must consider that Ymer already plays in the next tier, and has better experience on the main tour. It is going to be a an uphill task for Ymer, but he should do it.
Prediction: Ymer in 3
Juan Manuel Cerundolo vs Alex Bolt
Head-to-head: First Meeting
The young Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo had a very successful 2021. At the Cordoba Open, which was his first ATP event, he entered as a qualifier and went home as the champion. Besides this, Cerundolo won three challenger titles. He also made his debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals, though he returned win-less. The young talent is a shaping up as a force on clay. Alex Bolt didn’t exactly have a superb season, but he did win a challenger tournament on grass. He was awarded a wildcard at the Australian Open last year, but couldn’t do much. Though he is ranked lower than Cerundolo, he has shown some great performances on his home turf over the course of his career. Bolt will seal the win here.
Prediction: Bolt in 3
Jiri Vesely vs Tommy Paul
Head-to-head: Vesely 1-1 Paul
Jiri Vesely collected a challenger title in 2021 besides making a handful of semi-finals. He didn’t have promising results on the main tour, but looked good during the grass season. On the other hand, Tommy Paul had a memorable season, which he capped off with a title at Stockholm, his first ATP trophy. Apart from that, Paul made his top 50 debut this year. At Stockholm, he was faced with one of the toughest draws, where he had to beat Fritz, Murray, Tiafoe, and Shapovalov in successive matches to win the title. Paul is a great player on hard courts when firing. He might be a little rusty to start with, but the win will be his.
Prediction: Paul in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
