Another ATP 500 and once again we’ve been graced with a draw full of huge first-round match-ups, at the Swiss Indoors Basel. We’ve tried to predict some of these enticing clashes on the second day in Basel including Mackenzie McDonald’s battle with Alex Molcan, Roberto Bautista Agut’s second meeting with Laslo Djere and the vet Andy Murray’s fight with heavy-hitter Roman Safiullin. We also look at the rest of the day’s matches in another article.
ATP Swiss Indoors Basel Day 2 Predictions
Alex Molcan vs Mackenzie McDonald
Head-to-head: 1-0 Molcan
Alex Molcan has shown the world how great a player he is over the last year and a half but most of that greatness has been limited to clay. On hard-courts, he’s arguably below average, failing to win more than 50% of his matches in that time.
Unfortunately for Mackenzie McDonald, his strength in his fantastic backhand cross-court may make little headway against the lefty forehand of Molcan. He found this out in Canada a few months ago, Molcan able to get a much-needed win on the surface by hitting McDonald off the court. Still, McDonald is a far more accomplished player on this surface than the Slovak–Molcan’s match-up advantages give him the slight edge but it should be close.
Prediction: Molcan in 3
Roberto Bautista Agut vs Laslo Djere
Head-to-head: 1-0 Bautista Agut
Laslo Djere has made a name for himself as a solid player with plenty of bite in his forehand. This style of play has led him to many wins on a clay court but he’s had a few great matches on hard courts as well.
Roberto Bautista Agut is the king of solid play, however. He showed that in his win over Djere on the clay of Gstaad four years ago. If Bautista Agut could find a way through Djere then on the Spaniard’s lesser-preferred surface, it’s difficult to see him losing to Djere on a hard court. Sometimes the quicker hard-courts can actually hurt Bautista Agut as he has less time to run around to find his forehand but, given the backhand battle falls heavily in the Spaniard’s favor in this match-up, we’re giving him the significant advantage.
Prediction: Bautista Agut in 2
Roman Safiullin vs Andy Murray
Head-to-head: First meeting (1-0 Safiullin at Challenger level)
Last year, Roman Safiullin played Andy Murray on an indoor hard court and Safiullin won in three sets. Whilst this doesn’t inspire us with confidence, it’s safe to say Murray wasn’t serving quite as well as he normally does on this surface. It’s easy to forget just how good a player Murray is indoors given how he’s faded over the last five years but, even now, it would be foolish to doubt his abilities. He’s the second-best active player in terms of win-percentage in these conditions, his returning abilities only strengthened by the steadiness of the conditions and his serving is strong enough to keep his service games ticking over.
If Murray turns up playing above average, he should be able to find a way through the huge hitting of Safiullin by keeping the Russian’s service games under constant pressure. We’ll allow for recent peaks and troughs in Murray’s game but overall he should be the better player here.
Prediction: Murray in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
