The Swiss crowd have been treated to some masterclasses of tennis in the first three days, especially from their hero, Roger Federer.
There is more Swiss representation on Day 4. Read all of our previews below:
ATP Swiss Indoors Day 4 Predictions
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Ricardas Berankis
Head-to-Head: Berankis 1-0 Tsitsipas
It was surprising to discover in the research that Berankis had won the only previous meeting of the pair. What is more interesting about this fact is that it happened only a year ago and it was in indoor hard conditions, similar to what they will be playing on in this second round encounter.
Tsitsipas has by far stronger record indoors in the last twelve months though, holding serve an impressive 88% compared to the Lithuanian’s 78%. Another stat that holds potential importance is the superior tiebreak record of the Greek. He has won six out of seven played indoors in the last twelve months, although the Lithuanian matches the Greek in this area when all surfaces are considered.
The Greek will want to end the season strongly to give himself the best chance of achieving an important title in either Paris or at the ATP Tour Finals. Expect him to come through this test in two tight sets, at least one tiebreak.
Prediction: Tsitsipas in 2
Filip Krajinovic vs Fabio Fognini
Head-to-Head: Krajinovic 1-1 Fognini
Krajinovic was clinical in his victory over Laslo Djere in the first round. The Serbian continued his good recent form and won without dropping serve and breaking his opponent on four occasions.
Fognini was similarly comfortable in his opening victory. It seemed like he was going to be under pressure against the big-serving young Australian Alexei Popyrin but the Italian quelled the powerful youngster impressively and dominated both sets.
The head-to-head record between the pair is fairly irrelevant in this match-up. Both matches took place on clay, one match was when Krajinovic was ranked outside the world’s top 1000.
Fognini has really struggled to hold serve on tour indoors in the last year. He has only held 67% of the time in his nine matches under the roof, Krajinovic isn’t the best returner on tour but he could pick his spots on return if Fognini continues to serve as poorly as he has in previous indoor matches. As always it is difficult to predict what the mercurial Italian will do on a match-by-match basis but this could be a topsy-turvy battle with long rallies. Krajinovic could progress by being the more consistent but expect a three-set match here.
Prediction: Krajinovic in 3
David Goffin vs Reilly Opelka
Head-to-Head: Goffin 1-0 Opelka
The Belgian had a good warm-up for this match against the giant American by taking on another big server in Marin Cilic. He managed to break the Croatian three times and was comfortable on his own delivery. Opelka, meanwhile, had a very Opelka style match against Cristian Garin. The American won in two tiebreaks and his ability to win tiebreaks is going to be totally key to his career, his current win/loss record of 51-52 will need to improve if he is to progress into the upper echelons of the game.
The Belgian seemed to be in good condition in the first round and he should have the edge in this match. Expect him to progress, whether it is in two sets or three may depend on who wins a likely tiebreak.
Prediction: Goffin in 2
Richard Gasquet vs Roberto Bautista Agut
Head-to-Head: Bautista Agut 4-2 Gasquet
These two will be sick of the sight of each other this season. This is the fourth meeting between since June, the Spaniard currently leads the 2019 series 2-1 but Gasquet emerged the victor on the last occasion, coming through in three sets at the Cincinnati Masters event.
The Frenchman’s apparent fade away from the top of the game seems to have accelerated in the last few months. After his defeat of Bautista Agut in Cincinnati Gasquet has only won two matches on tour. The most recent being a defeat of Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero in the first-round here. It should be expected that a player of Gasquet’s history and class should be able to beat a South American clay courter in European indoor conditions, but it was still a good victory for the veteran.
Bautista Agut meanwhile toughed out a victory over last year’s Basel finalist Marius Copil. This should certainly set him up well for a good run at this tournament. He was solid on serve and managed to create eleven breakpoint opportunities against the big-serving Romanian.
Expect Bautista Agut to gain revenge on Gasquet for that quarterfinal defeat in Cincinnati. There will be a lot of baseline rallies but the Spaniard may push the Frenchman to go too far and hit too many unforced errors.
Prediction: Bautista Agut in 2
Frances Tiafoe vs Stan Wawrinka
Head-to-Head: No previous meetings
Tiafoe achieved an excellent win in the opening round over the British #1 Dan Evans. The match was the epitome of winning the important points as the American converted four out of six breakpoints whilst saving six out of seven on his own delivery.
Meanwhile, Wawrinka was totally dominant on serve against Pablo Cuevas. The Swiss won 90% of points on his first serve and an equally impressive 70% on his second delivery. Unsurprisingly he didn’t face a single breakpoint and ran out a comfortable winner.
Wawrinka’s indoor hard stats, even over the last twelve months when not at his peak, are seriously impressive. With an 8-3 win record and holding serve 87% of the time he is putting up numbers that are pushing him back towards the world’s top 10. Tiafoe, on the other hand, has been distinctly average, particularly struggling to break his opponents.
It is a difficult task for the young American to continue to win the key points without dominating. The Swiss appears to be really hitting some good form again and it would be a surprise if he didn’t continue his progress in front of the Swiss fans here.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
