ATP Rome Day 2 kicks off with plenty of great matches even though none of the seeds are in action yet. The home crowd will enjoy watching plenty of Italian players, including Matteo Arnaldi who takes on veteran Diego Schwartzman; Lorenzo Sonego ,who takes on another veteran in Jeremy Chardy; and Giulio Zeppieri, who has a difficult match against an in-form Daniel Altmaier. Dusan Lajovic is another player playing great tennis of late who will be in action on Thursday. There are plenty of great matches ahead in Rome, with all of them previewed here at Last Word on Tennis.
ATP Rome Day 2 Predictions
Dusan Lajovic vs Nuno Borges
Head-to-head: First meeting
Lajovic is enjoying a great run of form after he won the title at the Serbian Open and made the third round in Madrid after scoring a huge win over a Top 10 player in Felix Auger-Aliassime. Borges recently moved to clay in the recent swing and though he is comfortable on the surface has posted just a 1-4 record on the year so far. He plays a decent baseline game that compares to Lajovic, though the Serbian has a similar skillset with both better abilities and more experience. Lajovic has a chance to go deep into the draw and has shown his ability with wins over Rublev and Djokovic in addition to Auger-Aliassime. Lajovic is playing far better tennis right now than Borges and will continue to do so and score a convincing first round victory.
Prediction: Lajovic in 2
Lorenzo Sonego vs Jeremy Chardy
Head-to-head: 1-0 Sonego
Sonego has been in a bit of a rut on clay after a strong hard court season. Chardy is in a very different situation, playing just his fourth match of the year after seemingly being close to retirement in 2022. Chardy is a strong veteran but is just 1-2 in the three matches he has played so far this year.
Sonego is a great player who has struggled of late, but he moves well and plays with power and should match up well against Chardy. He has a losing record on clay so far this year but has won his first round match in two of the three events he has played on the surface. While Sonego is not in his best form, he has shown he still has the ability to win matches while Chardy is not on the level of his former self. Chardy will manage to put up a fight, but Sonego is a better overall player and will take control and win convincingly.
Prediction: Sonego in 2
Giulio Zeppieri vs Daniel Altmaier
Head-to-head: First meeting
Altmaier is looking to build off a strong start to the clay season highlighted by a recent quarterfinal run in Madrid. Zeppieri is an Italian wild card into the event as a young up-and-coming player. Zeppieri certainly has potential but does not yet have a win at tour-level in 2023. Altmaier has made massive strides in his game this year and though he made the quarterfinals in Madrid, again had to enter the qualifying draw in Rome. He had no problem with the extra matches, winning all four sets in qualifying to make the main draw.
Altmaier is a great player who moves well from the baseline on clay and is in good form, both contending against top players and beating the players that he should. He will take care of business and control the match from the start against the less experienced Zeppieri.
Prediction: Altmaier in 2
Matteo Arnaldi vs Diego Schwartzman
Head-to-head: First meeting
It is no secret that Schwarzman has had a tough year and it will not get any easier with his first round draw against Arnaldi. Arnaldi received a Wild Card into Rome after qualifying for both Madrid and Barcelona and making the most of those events. He won two matches in the Madrid main draw, including a huge straight sets win over Casper Ruud in the second round. Schwarzman has been in opposite form with just a 2-7 record so far on clay and has lost his last three matches on the surface.
Arnaldi will have the added advantage of a home crowd backing him and combined with his form will be more than enough to give him the momentum to take the match. Schwartzman is a player who never goes down easily so he will put up a fight, but Arnaldi has simply been the better player of late and he will pull the match out in the end.
Prediction: Arnaldi in 3
Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
