Day 2 of the ATP Montpellier event on the French indoor courts features a whole bunch of home favourites, including former top 10 players Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga alongside talented youngster Hugo Gaston.
ATP Montpellier Day 2 Predictions
Filip Krajinovic vs Alexei Popyrin
Head-to-head: 0-0
When Popyrin won his maiden ATP title in Singapore last year it felt like it could have been the gates opening for the big-hitting Australian. Instead, if anything, he’s gone backwards. Indoor hard courts are no doubt where his game are most suited due to his big serve and groundstrokes. The coming few weeks will be a good test to see if the Australian can steady the ship again after a string of poor results. Krajinovic is solid but is also not in the greatest of form. This really is a coin toss.
Prediction: Krajinovic in 3
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs Kacper Zuk
Head-to-head: 0-0
It’s sad to see one of the best players of the last 15 years now ranked outside the top 250 in the world but unfortunately it’s a fair reflection of where the former Australian Open finalist is at near the end of his career. The serve and forehand which brought so much joy and results over the last decade simply don’t exist anymore as evident with just two wins in his last 14 matches. On paper you look at Zuk and you think this is a nice draw, and it is, but the Pole has won two qualifying matches to get to where he is so will no doubt be in form and ready. This is going to be a hard test for the home favorite but perhaps Jo-Willy can give his home fans a few more memories before the end.
Prediction: Tsonga in 3
Soonwoo Kwon vs Hugo Gaston
Head-to-head: 0-0
Kwon’s career has gone under the radar a fair bit, now barely ranked outside the top 50 with an ATP title to his name the 24 is going in the right direction, barely losing to Denis Shapovalov at the Australian Open, who then went on to almost beat eventual champion Rafael Nadal. As talented as the young Frenchman is, he’s in awful form with no wins in his last six tour matches which is hard to see changing this week.
Prediction: Kwon in 2
Lucas Pouille vs Gilles Simon
Head-to-head: Simon 3-1
Only three years ago, Pouille was in the Australian Open semifinals; now he’s ranked outside the top 150 just like his compatriot and opponent Simon. Just like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, it’s sad to see some of the best Frenchman of recent times fall down the rankings. In the past Simon has been a nightmare for most players and one of these is his younger opponent, he can simply frustrate him into errors and beating himself, something he did to the likes of Roger Federer in the past. I see another Simon win here.
Prediction: Simon in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
