Day 4 at the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid will feature the debut of many of the seeds, including Felix Auger-Aliassime, who’s still looking for that elusive first Masters 1000 title. It will feature plenty of exciting matches with unpredictable outcomes, as has been the case so far this week in Madrid. As always, we predict all of them for you. We split Saturday’s matches between four articles. One features Daniil Medvedev vs Andrea Vavassori, the second headlines Cameron Norrie vs Yosuke Watanuki, and the third features Dominic Thiem vs Stefanos Tsitsipas. Who do you think will advance?
ATP Masters 1000 Madrid Day 4 Predictions
Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs Dan Evans
Head-to-head: first meeting
This is a very hard match to call. On paper, Zapata Miralles’s game is more suited to clay and he plays at home, but Evans has been getting surprisingly good results on this surface in recent years, including a semifinal run in Barcelona last week, and is generally the better player of the two.
Prediction: Evans in 3
Jiri Lehecka vs Alexander Shevchenko
Head-to-head: Lehecka 1-0 Shevchenko
Both players are having very solid breakthrough seasons, but Lehecka is doing it at a much higher level, with strong runs at Slam and Masters 1000 level already. He has also shown that he’s capable of playing good tennis on clay, which is theoretically his weakest surface, and he comes into this match as a solid favorite.
Prediction: Lehecka in 2
Cristian Garin vs Miomir Kecmanovic
Head-to-head: first meeting
Both players have been having rough seasons, bar Kecmanovic’s run to the final in Estoril. This is a very hard match to call; on paper, Garin is the stronger of the two on this surface but he has been struggling for quite a while now and Kecmanovic definitely looks like the stronger player overall right now.
Prediction: Kecmanovic in 3
Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Dusan Lajovic
Head-to-head: Lajovic 2-0 Aliassime
Felix has been having a disappointing season so far after a great end of 2022, while Lajovic has been on fire recently, winning a title in Bosnia beating Djokovic and Rublev on the way. On form, Lajovic would be the logical pick, but Auger-Aliassime is a t=Top 10 player for a reason and is bound to get back to this top level at some point.
Prediction: Auger-Aliassime in 3
Main Photo Credit: Peter van den Berg-USA TODAY Sports
