Dominic Thiem reached the final in his last event in Kitzbuhel, getting back to that stage for the first time since his wrist injury. The 2020 US Open champion will try to continue that form in the North American hard-court swing, kicking it off at the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem against Arthur Rinderknech. We also predict the rest of the day’s matches in two separate articles, featuring Marton Fucsovics vs Zhizhen Zhang and Marc-Andrea Huesler vs Richard Gasquet. Who do you think will come out on top?
ATP Winston-Salem Day 2 Predictions
Facundo Diaz Acosta vs Quentin Halys
Head-to-head: First meeting
Facundo Diaz Acosta took a break after the long Challenger stretch that got him into the top 100, allowing his body to rest up a bit. While the Argentinian is probably going to be fine at tour-level on clay, hard courts could be another story. Quentin Halys is going to be kicking off his North American swing here so there might be some rust involved, but the weaponry he has in these conditions should allow him to dominate here.
Prediction: Halys in 2
Illya Marchenko vs Rinky Hijikata
Head-to-head: Hijikata 1-0
Illya Marchenko is quietly on a 7-match winning streak, having clinched a Challenger title at Salinas in July. This has been a resurgent campaign from the veteran and he currently looks like he might have a great shot at making it back to Grand Slam qualifying for Melbourne. His qualifying path was very easy, but it’s not like he’s without a chance against Rinky Hijikata right now. The Australian hasn’t been all that impressive and Marchenko can pull it off with another vintage display.
Prediction: Marchenko in 3
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Luca Van Assche vs Thai-Son Kwiatkowski
Head-to-head: First meeting
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski is finally back to playing regularly this year, winning a 15K in Sunrise and grabbing a couple of Challenger quarterfinals. He’s slowly getting back up there and managed to qualify by beating Nick Hardt and Andrey Kuznetsov here. Luca Van Assche is far from the toughest draw he could have gotten with the young Frenchman often struggling at tour-level so far. That’s probably not going to be the case though against someone without much explosive power.
Prediction: Van Assche in 2
Arthur Rinderknech vs Dominic Thiem
Head-to-head: Thiem 1-0
They just recently played in Kitzbuhel with Dominic Thiem initially getting overpowered, but then finding his footing again after Arthur Rinderknech started feeling all the tennis he had played over the previous two weeks. They both haven’t played since that event and only one can start their hard-court swing with a win. Who’s more likely to do that? Maybe Rinderknech, who seemed to have gotten his season back on track recently. It’s really not much of an edge though.
Prediction: Rinderknech in 3
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