It is Day 2 of the ATP Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Champions where World #1 Novak Djokovic takes center stage. The Serbian star is chasing a sixth title in these parts and he is celebrating a record 378th week at the top of the rankings, overtaking German great Steffi Graf. As always, we here at LWOT have every match covered in our daily predictions, with three of Tuesday’s matches in this article. In addition to this article, we have two others today. One features Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Maxime Cressy, and the second features Karen Khachanov vs Botic Van De Zandschulp. Who will advance to the Round of 16?
ATP Dubai Day 2 Predictions
Emil Ruusuvuori vs Christopher O’Connell
Head-to-head: first meeting
Consistency is not Ruusuvuori’s strength. He is 3-6 for the season at Tour level and hasn’t won back-to-back matches since Stockholm last October. In that timespan, O’Connell won a Challenger title and broke the top 100 for the first time. Last week, the Aussie threatened the upset in Doha, taking a set off eventual champion Daniil Medvedev before losing the decider 7-5. Ruusuvuori is the favorite here purely due to his ranking, but the qualifier is playing the better tennis at the moment.
Prediction: O’Connell in 3
Borna Coric vs Dan Evans
Head-to-head: Evans 1-0 Coric
Coric has actually been in decent form in team competitions this year. He played an integral role in Croatia’s passage to the City Final in the inaugural United Cup where they eventually lost to Greece. The 26-year-old also confirmed his country’s place at the Davis Cup Finals with a rousing win over Dominic Thiem. But Coric has struggled to replicate that form on Tour. He lost in the first round of the Australian Open for the sixth time and barely laid a glove on Maxime Cressy in Montpellier where he lost in straight sets.
Evans hasn’t fared any better. In fact, the British one-hander arrives in Dubai on a three-match losing streak. His forehand is generating a flurry of errors and he hasn’t consistently neutralized points with his usually-reliable backhand slice. It’s a pick-and-choose here with neither player hitting their stride. However, Coric looks like he has the gumption to produce something akin to his best tennis.
Prediction: Coric in 3
Novak Djokovic vs Tomas Machac
Head-to-head: first meeting
Djokovic had been out of action since winning an unprecedented 10th Australian Open last month. The Serb focussed on recovering from the hamstring injury that was subject of plenty of speculation in Melbourne. And not that he needed to, but he has cleared the air as far as the true nature of the injury is concerned and even got the backing of tournament director Craig Tiley who confessed that Djokovic played the fortnight with a 3cm hamstring tear. It’s quite remarkable how he did it.
Djokovic starts this week as the overwhelming favorite to win a sixth title in Dubai. As good as Tomas Machac looked in qualifying at the weekend, he is walking in Djokovic’s backyard. Since his debut back in 2007, Djokovic has never lost a first-round match at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Expect another dominant win in a record-breaking 378th week as World No. 1.
Prediction: Djokovic in 2
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