The final US Open tune-up is midway through with third-round matches in store Wednesday at the ATP Winston-Salem Open. Botic van de Zandschulp is the headliner hoping to gain momentum to replicate his great run at the 2021 US Open. Maxime Cressy will be the other crowd favorite as one of two Americans playing in front of a home crowd. There will be plenty of competitive matches, all of which are previewed at Last Word on Tennis.
ATP Winston-Salem Day 4 Predictions
Ilya Ivashka vs Marc-Andrea Huesler
Head-to-head: 1-0 Ivashka
Huesler looked great in qualifying for the tournament, winning his last six sets including the first round match. He is performing well on the hard courts though he is a far better player on clay. Ivashka has been playing solid tennis and started strong in Atlanta with a surprise semifinal appearance. On top of his good results, he has almost exclusively lost to stronger players throughout the year. He has a strong serve that will surely be tough for Huesler to return with his frame. Ivashka looks strong and will be able to jump on Huesler and rely on his better movement on hard courts. Ivaska will secure another straight-set victory and march on as a dark horse to win the tournament.
Prediction: Ivashka in 2
Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs Adrian Mannarino
Head-to-head: 5-3 Ramos-Vinolas
While Ramos leads the eight prior meetings between the two veterans, they are perfectly split on court surface. Ramos has won all five meetings on clay while Mannarino has won each of their three meetings on hard courts. Ramos has had a good year overall but his success has been clay-heavy, with 19 of his 22 wins on the year coming on clay. Mannarino is the opposite having an awful clay season but finding mixed results on hard. The lefty on lefty matchup will hurt Mannarino’s big wide serve. Ramos will put up a solid fight, but Mannarino is simply better on hard courts and in good enough form that he will pull out in a battle just as he did in the first round here.
Prediction: Mannarino in 3
Botic van de Zandschulp vs Jaume Munar
Head-to-head: 1-0 Munar
Munar took their one meeting, though that came on clay and before van de Zandschulp’s significant improvement. Munar has been excellent on clay this year with two Challenger titles. He has seen far stronger results on clay with his fighting baseline game and has been mixed on hard. Botic relies on a strong serve which will give him a serious advantage on a hard court. He showed his abilities on hard with his impressive quarterfinal result at last year’s US Open. He played well again at Wimbledon this year and though he has not had quite the same success on hard this year, he has lost to elite players. Botic has struggled against top players but tends to take care of business against players he should beat. Munar does not have the tools to beat him and Botic’s solid game means he will limit mistakes and cruise to the next round.
Predictiono: Van de Zandschulp in 2
Lorenzo Sonego vs Maxime Cressy
Head-to-head:
Sonego is historically solid on hard courts but had a rough start to the year, losing five straight matches on the surface before transitioning to clay. He had a good run to the third round in Cincinnati though he was helped by a favorable draw, and he fell to Ben Shelton in the third round. Cressy has really broken through over the past year and a half, relying on a huge serve to be a danger in every match. He made the fourth round at the Australian Open and had a great grass court season showing his abilities on faster surfaces. Cressy has dealt with rough draws but still managed to score strong wins in recent hard court events. Sonego can battle and try to find an edge, but Cressy will hold serve all match and take advantage of mistakes by Sonego to win in two very close sets.
Prediction: Cressy in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
