Day 4 of the Munich ATP 250 brings us the rest of the top seeds after their byes, with the return of Reilly Opelka in his first action since winning Houston early this month. Day 3 saw the first great upset, as #1 seed Alexander Zverev was ousted by young Holger Rune, leaving the door wide open for #2 seed Casper Ruud to collect another clay title. Predictions for Day 4 follow below, including Reilly Opelka vs Oscar Otte.
ATP Munich Day 4 Predictions
Botic van de Zandschulp vs Egor Gerasimov
Head-to-head: first meeting
The Dutchman with the difficult last name has a distinct advantage over his big Belarusian counterpart in just about every category. They are similar players, both large heavy-hitters, especially from the forehand side. But Gerasimov has a vast preference for hard court over clay, while van de Zandschulp has played about the same amount on both surfaces since the early days of his career. Van de Zandschulp has played moderately well this season, whereas Gerasimov has struggled to find wins, with only two since the first week of the year. The former isn’t inspiring a lot of confidence, but he should win this comfortably.
Prediction: Van de Zandschulp in 2
Reilly Opelka vs Oscar Otte
Head-to-head: first meeting
Opelka is back in action after a couple weeks off, sitting at his career high of #17 after a title on clay in Houston. He’s had an excellent season that has included three finals appearances and two titles. Otte has played a bit less on the ATP tour this season, and has about a .500 win percentage on the season. Opelka presents a giant leap in level of difficulty from the German’s last match, a young Serb ranked outside the top 750. I would expect Opelka to overpower his opponent, but think he might need a little warm-up time after his weeks off.
Prediction: Opelka in 3
Hugo Gaston vs Alejandro Tabilo
Head-to-head:first meeting
This should be a fun match, and more worth watching than its rankings would suggest. Gaston is small and quick and loves the drop shot, and has no lefty advantage here as his opponent shares the same handedness. Tabilo is tall and slim, and both hits hard and moves well for his size, which should neutralize Gaston’s drop shot tendency. Both players like the clay, and each should be eager to continue his rise up the rankings, and should see in his opponent a winnable match. Tabilo had a good victory over countryman Cristian Garin in Round 1, while Gaston struggled to eke out a victory against Marcos Giron, and I like Tabilo’s momentum better at the moment, though not much distinguishes these two.
Prediction: Tabilo in 3
Casper Ruud vs Alex Molcan
Head-to-head: first meeting
Alex Molcan is a fast riser, having moved up over 200 places since this time last year, to reach his current career-high of #46. Casper Ruud presents a stiff challenge, able to put together runs like his title in Buenos Aires and his finals appearance in Miami. And now he’s back on clay, his preferred surface, having demonstrated that he can make it into even hard court finals at the 1000 level. Molcan has had a decent season himself, finishing runner-up in Marrakech after a good tournament that included a defeat of world #9 Felix Auger-Aliassime. But nothing other than the bare reality of upsets suggests a victory for the Slovak here, though I think he could make it a good match.
Prediction: Ruud in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
