The second week of the post-Wimbledon clay court swing continues with Day 2 of ATP singles in Hamburg. 2020 US Open finalist Alexander Zverev is one of the players in action. We at LWOT have two separate articles for the other men’s singles matches in Hamburg–one features Francisco Cerundolo vs Yannick Hanfmann, and the other features Lorenzo Musetti vs Elias Ymer. But which players do you think will win?
ATP Hamburg Day 2 Predictions
Juan Pablo Varillas vs Thiago Seyboth Wild
Head-t0-head: First meeting
Varillas had a positive tournament last week in Gstaad, making the quarterfinal as a qualifier and only being stopped by the eventual champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Seyboth Wild has immense talent as he showed in his epic five-set victory over Daniil Medvedev at the French Open, but he has struggled to kick on since then to fully realise his potential. Varillas has the more consistent brand of tennis, and the outcome of this match will likely depend on how consistently Seyboth Wild can hit more winners than unforced errors. I think Varillas may just be a little too solid for the Brazilian.
Prediction: Varillas in 3
Pedro Cachin vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Head-to-head: First meeting
Cachin is coming into this tournament after the most special week of his career in Gstaad, where he won his first ever ATP title. It was one of the biggest surprises of the season so far after what had been a mostly underwhelming year for the Argentine until then. The Spaniard Davidovich Fokina has had a steady year including a quarterfinal at Indian Wells and an epic five=set defeat to Holger Rune at Wimbledon, but has yet to have a real standout result. I do feel that last week was such a surprising and extraordinary win for Cachin that it will be difficult to properly recover mentally and physically just two days later. Davidovich Fokina to win.
Prediction: Davidovich Fokina in 3
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Alexander Zverev vs Alex Molcan
Head-to-head: Zverev 2-0 Molcan
These two men met last week in Bastad and it was an incredibly close match that Zverev won 7-5 in the third set. The German was far below his best but Molcan deserves credit for troubling him with his consistency. They also played at this year’s French Open, but Zverev won that contest far more easily in straight sets. It is difficult to know what to expect from Zverev currently. Last week in Bastad he was outstanding in the thrashing he gave Thiago Monteiro but was poor either side of that against Molcan and Andrey Rublev. I will back him to win more comfortably at his home tournament but it is impossible for me to predict anything with confidence at the moment when it comes to Zverev.
Prediction: Zverev in 2
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
