Day 3 of the ATP Atlanta Open sees the seeded players coming off their byes. Things have gone mostly as expected so far, and the highlight of Round 1 was local hopeful Ben Shelton lodging the first ATP win of his career. The real question is whether anyone will be able to lodge a win against six-time Atlanta titlist and reigning champion John Isner. As always, we make our picks, here including Reilly Opelka vs Ilya Ivashka.
ATP Atlanta Day 3 Predictions
Tommy Paul vs Soonwoo Kwon
Head-to-head: Paul 1-0
Tommy Paul comes into Round 2 in good form. He cruised easily past fellow American Jack Sock in the first round, dropping only two games. He lodged three wins at Wimbledon in his previous appearance on court, and the two tournaments prior to that saw him notch wins over both Jannik Sinner and Denis Shapovalov. Kwon, meanwhile, just got his first win in two months, and he has managed to beat almost exclusively low-ranked opponents this year. Each has a similar win percentage on hard court, with one title apiece, and the H2H was in qualifying for Cincinnati last year. Just about everything favors Paul here.
Prediction: Paul in 2
Brandon Nakashima vs John Millman
Head-to-head: Nakashima 1-0
Nakashima is making his first appearance since Wimbledon, where he beat Denis Shapovalov, and played finalist Nick Kyrgios to a tough five-setter. The rest of his season has been mediocre, as has his hard court turn, but he is the reigning finalist here in Atlanta. Millman is having a poor season, with slightly better results on hard, but he dropped a hard court H2H to Nakashima earlier this year. Nakashima has a higher win percentage on hard by ten points, and although Millman can sometimes raise his level, such as in his wins over Grigor Dimitrov and Sebastian Korda, in the normal course of things we should see the American move on.
Prediction: Nakashima in 3
Frances Tiafoe vs Taro Daniel
Head-to-head: first meeting
Taro Daniel has been a Challenger Tour player of late, although he threw a wrench into the equation by just beating Sebastian Korda in Round 1. Tiafoe sits near his career high of 25, and had a few wins at Wimbledon, but other than a finals run earlier in the year, he hasn’t looked inspiring. He does outpace Daniel by 12 percentage points in wins on hard, although their records on the surface this year are close. All signs point to Tiafoe, including over 70 rankings places, but I don’t feel confident. Tiafoe can be streaky, and Daniel came back from a 6-1 first set loss to Korda, who is at about Tiafoe’s level.
Prediction: Tiafoe in 3
Reilly Opelka vs Ilya Ivashka
Head-to-head: first meeting
Reilly Opelka is surely glad to be getting back to hard courts. He hadn’t looked great of late, but is standing on a two-thirds win percentage on hard for the year, with a title and another final. Ivashka hasn’t played much on the surface this year, although his win percentage is about the same as Opelka’s. But otherwise he’s played decently these last couple months. Opelka should win this, but Ivashka is reminiscent of Andy Murray in his size and style, who always handled the giants with ease. I think the American may have to fight harder than he wants to move past his first foe in Atlanta.
Prediction: Opelka in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
