Five singles matches are on the Tuesday schedule for the 2023 ATP Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune, India. Eighth seed Aslan Karatsev will kick off his campaign against Pablo Andujar. Both players were mostly struggling last year, which one of them will get his new season off to a good start?
ATP Pune Day 2 Predictions
Elias Ymer vs Maximilian Marterer
Head-to-head: Marterer 3-1
Maximilian Marterer recently took down Elias Ymer with a great performance in Helsinki on an indoor hard court. It should be a tighter match outdoors in Pune. Both players have come through the qualifying draw with Marterer getting pushed by Prajnesh Gunneswaran, while Ymer enjoyed a pretty easy campaign. There’s quite a lot of pressure on the Swede here as he was a semifinalist at this event last year. While it was held at a later date, the possibility of losing these points could make him a bit anxious if it goes down to the wire.
Prediction: Marterer in 3
Pedro Martinez vs Ramkumar Ramanathan
Head-to-head: First meeting
In singles, Ramkumar Ramanathan finished his 2022 campaign at his lowest ranking since 2013. Maybe he can get some form going here though as he managed to take out Otto Virtanen and Mattia Bellucci in the qualifying draw. He’s certainly not drawing dead against Pedro Martinez, who had a tragic 2nd half of last season himself. The Spaniard is the better player, but it might not matter, especially with Ramanathan’s funky style and this being the first week of the year.
Prediction: Ramanathan in 3
Radu Albot vs Tim van Rijthoven
Head-to-head: Albot 1-0
Tim van Rijthoven would have been deep inside the top 100 had Wimbledon awarded points, but off grass he’s still way below the ATP Tour level. This is one of the weakest events on the calendar though and he might be able to do something here. It should be tight and as it’s the first match of the year for either player, it’s hard to determine the favorite. Radu Albot was in better form near the end of 2022 and could clinch it with his solid game if van Rijthoven is going to be off.
Prediction: Albot in 3
Flavio Cobolli vs Mukund Sasikumar
Head-to-head: First meeting
Mukund Sasikumar remained active in December, suffering two upset losses at 15K ITFs (one in a final, one in the second round). Flavio Cobolli had to go through the qualifying here and has to consider drawing the 25-year-old Indian as a great chance to grab a 2nd ATP Tour win. The young Italian has a lot of upside and often makes tennis look very easy when his forehand is firing. He also has a tendency to overhit it though and often loses focus. It won’t be as easy as it should be, but he probably will find his way through.
Prediction: Cobolli in 3
Pablo Andujar vs Aslan Karatsev
Head-to-head: First meeting
Aslan Karatsev suffered a pretty disappointing exit to Elias Ymer here in 2022 and pretty much never got anything more going all year. A title from the ATP 250 in Sydney is still keeping him high in the rankings, but he’s been struggling for about 12 months now. Pablo Andujar is a really nice draw though as the veteran Spaniard has a 30% win/loss record on hard courts at the ATP level. Even out of form, Karatsev should probably take him out.
Prediction: Karatsev in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
