The festival of tennis at the Adelaide International 2 will continue as Day 3 of the tournament features a slew of entertaining matches. Eighth seed Tommy Paul’s meeting with Jack Draper will be first on Court 3. We have predictions of all second-round matches in Adelaide in a second article, including Andrey Rublev vs Thanasi Kokkinakis. Who will reach the quarterfinal?
ATP Adelaide 2 Day 3 Predictions
Mackenzie McDonald vs Mikael Ymer
Head-to-head: Ymer 1-0 McDonald
McDonald had an unforgettable run to the fourth round of the Australian Open two seasons ago, but he can be hit-and-miss. He is generally inconsistent. Last year he won back-to-back matches at only six ATP tournaments and has since exited the world’s Top 50. However, he earned a confidence-boosting win in his opener, beating fifth seed Dan Evans in straight sets. That should at least give him a blueprint for mimicking his exploits from his 2021 season. Ymer, for his part, has scaled the qualifying hurdles, and got a similarly excellent win in the first round, ousting Emil Ruusuvuori in three sets. The Swede will be on the attack for most of this match, and if the American leaves any gaps behind his usually-reliable baseline game (as he did against Nishioka last week), the Swede will fully exploit them.
Prediction: Ymer in 3
Marc-Andrea Huesler vs Karen Khachanov
Head-to-head: Khachanov 2-0 Huesler
It will be raining down aces when Huesler and Khachanov go head to head on Wednesday. The Swiss southpaw won the big-hitting contest against Arthur Rinderknech in a three-set barnburner to get here. He is enjoying the best period of his career and pushed Khachanov to three sets at the Paris Masters last year. Still, I will expect the Russian to maintain his frenetic start to the season which has seen him notch a breathtaking win over Draper last week.
Prediction: Khachanov in 3
Pablo Carreno Busta vs Soonwoo Kwon
Head-to-head: Carreno Busta 2-0 Kwon
Carreno Busta did not play any matches at the United Cup as Spain’s chances of qualifying went up in smoke. The Spaniard was forced to sit out due to injury and his deputy Albert Ramos Vinolas failed to inspire. Carreno Busta is confident of winning his race against time to be match fit for the year’s first Grand Slam. But he might not even make it to the deep end of the Adelaide draw despite being the tournament’s #2 seed.
Soonwoo might be ranked lower than his peak ranking from last year, but he has a tidy game and is a difficult man to contain when his game falls into place. He defeated Tomas Machac in his opener after losing to the Czech in the final round of qualifying on Monday. We have seen upsets galore in the early weeks of the new season with top players being caught cold due to rust-related issues in their games. Carreno Busta might not have the time to test his game. The lucky loser could pounce.
Prediction: Kwon in 3
Tommy Paul vs Jack Draper
Head-to-head: first meeting
This for me is the pick of the second-round matches in Adelaide. For many months, Jack Draper was a novice in Tour-level tournaments, but that has all changed after putting together a career-best season in 2022. He didn’t quite make the splash in Adelaide 1 last week, losing routinely to Karen Khachanov, but has been in fine fettle this week, beating Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 6-2 in his opening match.
Tommy Paul, meanwhile, did not flinch in his first match of 2023, besting Christopher O’Connell 6-4 7-5. Draper has a better and more efficient first serve which will keep Paul guessing behind the return. The American is no slouch in that department though, posting some very good numbers behind his own delivery and his fierce forehand against the Australian qualifier. The Briton cannot afford to give Paul time and space to unleash from the forehand because he won’t be getting second chances. Paul is a slight favorite, but I reckon Draper might benefit from playing a couple of extra matches Down Under.
Prediction: Draper in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
