The opening round continues in ATP Adelaide part 2. We preview four matches in this article, and four more in a sister article which features Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Benoit Paire amongst others.
ATP Adelaide 2 Day 2 Predictions
Corentin Moutet vs Jan-Lennard Struff
H2H: First meeting
I like the Frenchman in this matchup. In theory, Struff should be able to blast Moutet off the court but we so rarely see that version of the German that I am reticent to think that game will arrive here. I envisage a match in which Moutet is solid but with enough moments of creativity to keep Struff on his toes and eventually get over the line.
Prediction: Moutet in 2
Lorenzo Musetti vs Benjamin Bonzi
H2H: Musetti 2-1 Bonzi
Despite Musetti leading the head-to-head between the two, when you look deeper you find that Musetti won the clay court matches but Bonzi won the most recent on indoor hard last January. At that time Bonzi was in an incredible run of form to kick off the year on the Challenger circuit. However, both players fizzled out at the back end of the year and so this is a battle of out-of-form players. I prefer Bonzi’s hard court pedigree over Musetti’s, but the Frenchman really needs to improve his ATP record. That mission starts here.
Prediction: Bonzi in 2
Thiago Monteiro vs Yoshihito Nishioka
H2H: Monteiro 1-0 Nishioka
Both players came through qualifying here but Monteiro got a lucky loser pass to get this match. Despite having lost already I prefer the Brazilian in this matchup. He has a winning hard court record in the last year, unlike Nishioka, and he’s also better on serve than the Japanese. However, Nishioka’s game style could get into the Monteiro service games but the truth is that Nishioka has struggled to convert good performances into wins and I think this could end up going the same way.
Prediction: Monteiro in 3
Botic van de Zandschulp vs Marton Fuscovics
H2H: Van de Zandschulp 1-0 Fucsovics
This is going to be a big hitting match with long rallies. Fucsovics’ matches are often of this form but recently he hasn’t been coming out on the right side of them. This was the case in November when this pair met in Stockholm with the Dutchman prevailing in the third set 7-5. Fucsovics’ mental fragility has probably held him back from more title wins and match wins, van de Zandschulp still feels like he is on the upward curve and has that belief. That should take him to the victory here.
Prediction: Van de Zandschulp in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
