Day 3 at the ATP Delray Beach Open and we have some promising storylines in store. Will Denis Shapovalov manage to find his feet? Will Mackenzie McDonald continue his Nadal-beating form from the Australian Open? We’ve tried to make some predictions for these matches and more at the Floridian ATP 250.
ATP Delray Beach Day 3 Predictions
Nuno Borges vs Miomir Kecmanovic
Head-to-head: First meeting
Some quite bizarre recent losses for Miomir Kecmanovic leave this match pretty open. His loss to Emilio Gomez, the Ecuadorian’s first top 50 win in a career spanning 13 years, was far from his best and bagels to Medvedev, Auger-Aliassime and Tiafoe over the last four months have shown his serve wilting under pressure.
It’s not his serve that does the talking in his matches, however. His ground-game is still a cut above the majority of opponents Nuno Borges would normally face, that forehand likely to damage if the rallies go the distance. It’ll be tight but Kecmanovic should squeak through before falling to a more in-form player.
Prediction: Kecmanovic in 3
Mackenzie McDonald vs Yoshihito Nishioka
Head-to-head: Nishioka 5-1 McDonald (all levels)
From what we’ve seen since that win against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, Mackenzie McDonald’s serve lit up for a day but hasn’t quite hit the same blistering heights since–unfortunately for McDonald, with the battle likely to go to the baseline, Yoshihito Nishioka is a difficult match-up for him.
The Japanese is great at absorbing the blistering pace of McDonald’s shots and is comfortable trading his own loopy forehand to the American’s slightly weaker backhand. Nishioka has had recent success taking on backhands extremely early, flat and down the line–McDonald will have to be seeing his own backhand down the line like a football to avoid this. Given their head-to-head, we don’t think he’s up to the task.
Prediction: Nishioka in 2
Marcos Giron vs Matija Pecotic
Head-to-head:
First Meeting
What a story Pecotic is. He has a full-time job in the financial field, after retiring from an injury-riddled tennis career that never saw him reach a Tour-level main draw. Well, he got into qualies as an alternate after late withdrawals, won two matches there, and took out Jack Sock in the first round. Of course, Sock has his own issues currently, and isn’t near a Tour-level singles player. Giron is a solid Top 100 player. The dream ends here, unfortunately.
Prediction: Giron in 2
Denis Shapovalov vs Michael Mmoh
Head-to-head: Mmoh 1-0 Shapovalov (all levels)
Predicting Denis Shapovalov’s form is normally like flipping a coin. There are a couple of factors in this match with Michael Mmoh that are prompting us to lean one way more than the other however.
- Michael Mmoh is an incredibly athletic player capable of extending rallies longer than most players on the tour.
- Delray Beach is a notoriously windy tournament.
If Shapovalov is forced to play multiple balls in volatile conditions, the win for Mmoh here could be a very likely outcome. Rallied by the home crowd, we’re backing the American to get the third-highest-ranked win of his career.
Prediction: Mmoh in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
