No. 2 seed Lorenzo Musetti has only played one match since Roland Garros, and if he is to have a great hard-court season, he’ll need to adapt his game from previous years. Facing recent Wimbledon quarterfinalist Cameron Norrie in the opening match is tough luck. It just won’t allow Musetti to have that one safer round at the start of the tournament. Who do you think will prevail at ATP Washington?
ATP Washington Day 2 Predictions
Brandon Nakashima vs Ethan Quinn
Head-to-head: First meeting
The breakout season continues for Ethan Quinn, and by this point, you just expect him to grab wins like the one against Christopher O’Connell in the opening round pretty routinely. Brandon Nakashima can struggle against such powerful hitters and typically doesn’t produce high-quality returns. However, the American is also quite solid and doesn’t drop below a certain level. Over the course of the full match, you’d think he should find a way to abuse some of the dips that Quinn is likely to have.
Prediction: Nakashima in 2
Alex Michelsen vs Daniel Evans
Head-to-head: First meeting
Daniel Evans technically still hasn’t lost his 2023 crown from Washington after appearing at the Olympics instead last year. The Brit suddenly got a lot more fun to watch during the grass swing, especially as he was back to executing a pretty aggressive version of his game. This is far from easy for Alex Michelsen, and the constant slices of Evans will be some sort of a bother. The Brit could probably try to grind this one out and hope to win on his experience alone. It’s not a horrible idea, but it’s not enough to make him the favorite.
Prediction: Michelsen in 3
Gael Monfils vs Yibing Wu
Head-to-head: First meeting
Gael Monfils was kind of going through the motions on clay and grass recently, but let’s not forget how strong he looked on hard courts to start the year, despite reaching 38 years of age. This will be incredibly entertaining with the showman facing the ultra-talented Yibing Wu. The Chinese qualifier has endured some tough moments in Washington already this week and finally seems to be in good physical shape. With Monfils playing his first match of the hard-court swing, this could be a spot for an upset.
Prediction: Wu in 3
Lorenzo Musetti vs Cameron Norrie
Head-to-head: Musetti 2-0
On the one hand, Lorenzo Musetti is well-positioned to make a push for the ATP Finals this year. But his hard-court results typically aren’t that impressive, and the Italian has also played just one match since retiring in the Roland Garros semifinals to Carlos Alcaraz. At Wimbledon, he just wasn’t in rhythm and had to resort to trying to slice Nikoloz Basilashvili to death. He should be ready for a proper comeback now, but Norrie will give him a much tougher time than in their clay-court meetings.
Prediction: Musetti in 3
Main Photo Syndication: The Enquirer
