Day 2 at the ATP 500 event in Washington will be packed full of action, including Top 10 player Andrey Rublev, last year’s finalist Mackenzie McDonald, and 2019 champion and recent Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios. As is usually the case, Washington has a pretty strong draw for an ATP 500 tournament and we should have a very exciting week of tennis ahead of us. We predict every match on the schedule, split between three articles. The other two articles feature David Goffin vs Jack Sock and Kyle Edmund vs Daniel Evans.
ATP Washington Day 2 Predictions
Andrey Rublev vs Jack Draper
Head-to-head: Rublev 1-0 Draper
Rublev might be having a disappointing season considering the expectations, but he’s still #7 in the race with very solid results. Also, while he’s struggled at Slams (never got past the quarterfinals) and even Masters 1000 (yet to win a title), he has been dominant at ATP 500 level so far in his career, with five of his eleven career titles coming at this level (and two further finals), including one this year in Dubai. Rublev is extremely efficient at beating lower ranked players at this level and should be able to make it through here and maybe aim for a 6th career ATP 500 trophy.
Prediction: Rublev in 2
Mackenzie McDonald vs Emil Ruusuvuori
Head-to-head: McDonald 1-1 Ruusuvuori
Mackenzie McDonald had the best week of his career last year at this tournament; he reached his only final so far and came very close to beating Jannik Sinner for the title. He has been unable to back up that result so far so he faces a steep drop in the rankings if he can’t make a deep run this week. Ruusuvuori is a very similar player, four years younger but also with only one ATP level final and no titles to his name and they’re only separated by two places in the rankings. It should be a close match, but it seems probable that McDonald has the edge at this venue.
Prediction: McDonald in 2
Nick Kyrgios vs Marcos Giron
Head-to-head: first meeting
Kyrgios was supposed to make his return to the tour post-Wimbledon final last week in Atlanta but he withdrew, so it’ll be here in Washington that he finally makes his comeback. It’ll be interesting how he deals with the transition from the biggest stage of the sport to the first round of a much smaller tournament. If he can stay focused, he should have too much for Giron to handle, but if not Giron is more than solid enough to take advantage of an erratic Kyrgios. It’s safe to say the outcome of this match will be heavily dependent on the level and focus Kyrgios can bring to the court.
Prediction: Kyrgios in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
