The 2023 WTA Auckland Classic has just wrapped up with Coco Gauff claiming the title after dismantling the rest of the field. Now the ATP’s stars are getting ready to battle it out in New Zealand with five intriguing matches on day one at the ATP Auckland Classic. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, but who will come out on top?
ATP Auckland Day 1 Predictions
Constant Lestienne vs Pedro Cachin
Head-to-head: Lestienne 1-0 Cachin
Both players kicked off their 2023 campaigns with a straight-set loss, but faced some really tough opposition (Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov, respectively). It’s not the only thing that connects them. Both weren’t really on anyone’s possible top 100 debut radar in 2022, but suddenly had a rather late breakthrough. It’s too early to tell who will keep that form going, but Lestienne is generally the better hard-court player of the two.
Prediction: Lestienne in 3
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Jenson Brooksby vs Fabio Fognini
Head-to-head: first meeting
We haven’t seen either of these players on the court yet in 2023. Fabio Fognini had some rough showings near the end of last year, not always bringing his best for the smaller events and struggling for motivation. Jenson Brooksby had a very mediocre finish to 2022 as well, but he’s definitely going to be fired up for this and at this stage of Fognini’s career, there’s a good chance he manages to counter-punch the Italian to death.
Prediction: Brooksby in 2
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Richard Gasquet vs Kiranpal Pannu
Head-to-head: first meeting
Kiranpal Pannu played college tennis for Columbus State University and won a local wildcard play-off to get a spot in the main draw at the ATP Auckland Classic. Richard Gasquet may not be the player he once was, but Pannu hasn’t beaten a top 350 player yet and even an inspired performance at home is very unlikely to get him a win here. The only other time he faced someone from the top 100, he took three games off Emil Ruusuvuori. It should be a nice learning opportunity for the 26-year-old, but not much more.
Prediction: Gasquet in 2
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Adrian Mannarino vs J.J. Wolf
Head-to-head: first meeting
Adrian Mannarino suffered heartbreak at the United Cup, not serving out the match against Borna Gojo and eliminating France from the tournament. He still got two matches under his belt though and plenty of good practice with his team. He should be in a better match rhythm than J.J. Wolf and his lefty spins are very tricky to face for someone who tries to blast through most balls like the American. This one could have fireworks if Wolf is up to the challenge.
Prediction: Mannarino in 3
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David Goffin vs Alexander Bublik
Head-to-head: Goffin 1-0 Bublik
Neither player grabbed a win at the United Cup. David Goffin went down to Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Bublik lost to Stan Wawrinka and Hubert Hurkacz. Third time will be the charm for one of them, but it’s very hard to predict for whom. Goffin won their only previous meeting at Montpellier almost three years ago, but it feels like if anyone has grown as a player since, it’s probably Bublik. This one’s basically a coin flip.
Prediction: Bublik in 3
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