Six singles main draw matches are on the schedule on Wednesday at the ATP Antwerp Open with two of them the last remaining first-round clashes. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the schedule, including Arthur Fils vs Mark Lajal. But who will reach the second round?
ATP Antwerp Day 3 Predictions
Nuno Borges vs Dominik Koepfer
Head-to-head: first meeting
Dominik Koepfer has returned to the top level of the game very quickly after his injury issues, which came as a bit of a surprise. He proved he belongs and was in really good form before twisting his ankle against Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open. We haven’t seen him on the court since, so it’s hard to estimate what sort of level he might bring. Nuno Borges was on a poor patch recently, but made a Challenger final at Shenzhen last week. Not that much time to fly to Antwerp, the change of conditions. Maybe Koepfer actually grabs a win in his first match back.
Prediction: Koepfer in 3
Dominic Stricker vs Botic van de Zandschulp
Head-to-head: Stricker 1-0 van de Zandschulp
This was an opening round at Antwerp last year as well with Dominic Stricker winning 6-2 6-4. The Swiss recently made it to the top 100 after a few years of trying, but hasn’t followed up his big US Open run yet. In fact, he’s lost his last five matches, including a couple of Challenger round-one appearances in Mouilleron-le-Captif and Bratislava. It’s been a while since Botic van de Zandschulp did anything of note himself though and this might be a good opportunity for the more explosive Swiss to get back on track.
Prediction: Stricker in 2
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Gregoire Barrere vs Alexander Bublik
Head-to-head: Bublik 3-2 Barrere
They’ve already played indoors twice this year and split these meetings. That was in February when Alexander Bublik had a nightmare start to the season, before waking up with a run in Marseille (which included a win over Gregoire Barrere). It should be a tight one again and both players tend to shine under the roof. The Frenchman especially could basically be considered an indoor specialist with his groundstrokes relying on very precise timing. Feels like a coin flip, but Bublik is also often suffering from motivation issues.
Prediction: Barrere in 3
Main photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
