The 2019 ATP Stockholm Open is underway, although its expected field took a serious hit over the past week. Two-time champion Juan Martín Del Potro, who originally intended to begin his umpteenth comeback at the Swedish capital, was eventually forced to withdraw. Likewise, to nobody’s surprise, Joachim Johansson’s brief cameo back on tour was cut short due to injury. As you can watch on Tennisportalen, Pim Pim still owns a world-class serve at age 37. He mauled his prequalifying opponents, yet elected to pull out. Anyway, there are three singles main draw matches on Monday’s schedule. Let’s dig into each contest.
ATP Stockholm Monday Predictions
Reilly Opelka vs Stefano Travaglia
Head to head: first meeting
The Italian is enjoying a career year, having climbed roughly 50 spots in the ATP rankings since January, partially due to two cCallenger titles in Francavilla and Sopot. However, Travaglia’s extraordinary campaign comes with a caveat. Over the past 52 weeks, the 27-year-old boasts a robust 37-14 record on clay, but a paltry 15-13 clip on hard courts, including lower tier events. If we narrow the search down to tour level tournaments, it gets worse. Excluding his two gimmes against overwhelmed hometown wild cards, Travaglia is 2-9 in his career, according to Tennis Abstract. Not inspiring, right?
Opelka, who had a positive Asian swing, should crave the Stockholm conditions. At 20.5 aces per match, he is second on tour over the past 52 weeks. He should fire plenty of dingers at the Royal Tennis Hall.
Prediction: Opelka in 2
Corentin Moutet vs Janko Tipsarevic
Head to head: first meeting
On paper, this duel is far from glamorous. Moutet, who looked like a star in the making throughout the first half of the season, has crashed down to Earth lately. Ever since upsetting Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon, the young Frenchman has obtained zero tour level wins. The 20-year-old dropped down to the challengers after the US Open, but collected just three wins in four tournaments.
For his part, Tipsarevic is straight up winless at any level since Wimbledon. The 35-year-old, who is calling it quits after the Davis Cup Finals next month, entered the Stockholm Open main draw with his protected ranking. To be fair, his last few losses have all been quite competitive. A struggling Moutet may be the perfect rival for Tipsarevic to halt his losing streak. The gritty Serbian will not beat himself, so Moutet better be sharp.
Prediction: Tipsarevic in 2
Daniel Evans vs Bernard Tomic
Official head to head: Evans 2-1 Tomic.
Unofficial head to head: Evans 3-1 Tomic
Missing from the official H2H is their match from last week at the Shanghai qualifiers, which the Brit won 6-2 3-6 6-0. As per usual with Tomic, do we know which Bernie will show up? We may guess the nonchalant version is in town, but we do not know it 100%. Hence, it’s futile to guarantee an Evans win. Tomic, currently standing at No. 184 in the rankings, is more than capable of stringing together several good matches at any time. For what it’s worth, Aussie prevailed in their lone indoor encounter.
Evans has risen over 150 places in the rankings this year and is closing in on his career-high. Without a doubt, he is the more reliable player of the two. Yet, I’m skeptical.
Prediction: Tomic in 3
Main Photo:
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Disagree with our ATP Stockholm Monday Predictions? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
