Day 3 of ATP Winston-Salem saw the retirement of the tournament’s top seed in Grigor Dimitrov, which means the title is wide open for the taking. Reigning champ Ilya Ivashka is still in the draw and has a winnable Round 3 match, and Botic van de Zandschulp looks capable of taking it as the #2 seed. Who will prevail? We make our picks below, including Richard Gasquet vs Steve Johnson.
ATP Winston-Salem Day 4 Predictions
Benjamin Bonzi vs Thiago Monteiro
Head-to-head: first meeting
This is a very difficult match to call. These two players are close in their rankings and close in their records on the year, although Monteiro is more of a clay courter. Bonzi is not very experienced on hard courts on the ATP tour, and has lost three of his last four on the surface, before beating a massively struggling Kyle Edmund. Monteiro has spent the last five years hovering in and out of the top 100, and doesn’t fill me with confidence, but I like his two wins thus far, the Brazilian having come past Dennis Kudla and Nikoloz Basilashvili. I don’t want to call this one, but I’ll give it to Monteiro for the decent momentum he’s got here in Winston-Salem.
Prediction: Monteiro in 3
Richard Gasquet vs Steve Johnson
Head-to-head: Gasquet 2-1
Another difficult one to call, as there is little separating these two. They have similar records on the season and both are playing mediocre on hard, though Gasquet is returning after almost a month off. Gasquet is by far the more accomplished hard court player, and has beaten Johnson in both of their hard court matchups while amassing eight titles, but all that took place in the Frenchman’s younger years. His win over Lorenzo Musetti last round was good, but he faces a player who has had a fair amount of success in Winston-Salem (two semis and a finals appearance), and should have home support. There really is no way to pick this one, but I’ll give it to Johnson for the crowd support that has buoyed him to success here in the past.
Prediction: Johnson in 3
Jason Kubler vs Laslo Djere
Head-to-head: first meeting
Jason Kubler is inexperienced on the ATP Tour, though he’s played fairly well this year. He was dominant on the surface at the Challenger level, having amassed six titles with a high win percentage. That’s important because Djere has played very poorly on hard at both the ATP and Challenger level, being mainly a clay courter. He has decent wins this tournament, over David Goffin and Joao Sousa, but Kubler had a roughly equal win over Soonwoo Kwon. Their history on the surface favors Kubler strongly despite being ranked 27 places lower, though I’m not bold enough to call it in two.
Prediction: Kubler in 3
Dominic Thiem vs Jack Draper
Head-to-head: first meeting
Dominic Thiem had a good showing against a rising J.J. Wolf in Round 1, before being gifted an opportunity for Round 2 in the form of Dimitrov retiring. But he faces the difficult Jack Draper, who has steadily risen well into the top 100 and is in good form at a time when Thiem’s form is still very questionable. Draper has a lot of motivation and plenty of confidence as he rolls on in his career year, which has him favored here, and I am just not sure where Thiem’s game is as of yet. But because Thiem shows a bit from time to time and had a top 5 former level, I can’t call this in two.
Prediction: Draper in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
