Lots of opening round ATP action ahead of us in Adelaide on Day 2. A lot of players making their first ATP Tour appearance of the season so many will be hoping to start the year as they mean to go on. Read on to see who we expect to win today. We preview four matches in this article and four more in a sister article, which features Botic van de Zandschulp vs Marton Fucsovics amongst others.
ATP Adelaide 2 Day 2 Predictions
Soonwoo Kwon vs Lloyd Harris
H2H: Kwon 2-0 Harris
The previous meetings between these two have both taken place indoors in Asia where both players were ranked much lower than they are now. The fact that Kwon has won both is not insignificant but is unlikely to have that much bearing on this match, other than a confidence that Kwon has beaten the South African. But Harris is a different beast these days and based upon their records in the past year he has surpassed the Korean player, especially on this surface. Harris holds serve 17% more than Kwon on hard courts and with a negligible difference in their return game stats I put the odds in favor of the big South African in this matchup.
Prediction: Harris in 2
Alex Bolt vs Steve Johnson
H2H: First meeting
Bolt is now 29 and has never really progressed from the “wild card in home event” genre of player. His ranking is perennially just outside the top 100 and it looks unlikely to change at this stage of his career. Johnson has been up to the heady heights of #21 at his peak but has been rather unreliable and looked to be on the decline of late. However, the fact that Johnson has been able to qualify here tells me that he has a good level of game at the moment so I like his chances of beating Bolt.
Prediction: Johnson in 2
Gianluca Mager vs Egor Gerasimov
H2H: Mager 1-2 Gerasimov
These players have been on opposite trajectories in the rankings in the last year. Mager had a very progressive season but Gerasimov is still a very dangerous player with a big game. That game was certainly good enough to beat Mager a week ago in the same venue so he must start favorite here. Last week’s match went three sets, which I would expect again here, but the points won difference was 77-63 in favor of Gerasimov so that is a bit of a difference for the Italian to make up in the exact same circumstances.
Prediction: Gerasimov in 3
Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Benoit Paire
H2H: First meeting
Two fairly instinctive players face off across the net here. Last year it seemed as though the Frenchman was considering giving up the game halfway through the season. Undoubtedly he is going to be a player who is unhappy with the continuing difficulties with the pandemic and the changes that it makes to his familiar lifestyle. Kokkinakis, however, seems to be fit at the moment and when he is fit there is never any doubt that he is a very dangerous customer. His semifinal run last week proved that and he is really the only choice for a prediction here with very little idea of the level of Paire at the moment.
Prediction: Kokkinakis in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
