As with every year, the ATP Vienna Open could end up being a very important event regarding ATP Finals qualification. The draw is also extremely stacked in this edition with many high-profile matchups right away. Monday’s schedule contains five singles matches and, as always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match, as well as the action in Basel. But who will prevail?
ATP Vienna Day 1 Predictions
Albert Ramos Vinolas vs Matteo Arnaldi
Head-to-head: first meeting
Albert Ramos-Vinolas qualifying for this event is a bit of a surprise given his usual indoor results, but he defeated Dino Prizmic and got a walkover from Fabian Marozsan. Matteo Arnaldi should have him beaten with how much he’s progressed this year and the quality of his first serve. It is a bit of a question though if the Italian can deliver in a situation where he’s the big favorite. His relative inexperience on tour might hurt him here, but at least on paper it’s not really that close.
Prediction: Arnaldi in 2
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J.J. Wolf vs Jiri Lehecka
Head-to-head: first meeting
It’s a matchup of two very aggressive, but also extremely mercurial players. It goes with the playstyle. Both didn’t produce anything exceptional in Stockholm last week, although J.J. Wolf at least won a match. Jiri Lehecka gave a pretty lethargic performance against Dino Prizmic though and simply wasn’t up to his usual standards. It’s hard to make any predictions here, so let’s just go with slightly better recent form.
Prediction: Wolf in 3
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Roman Safiullin vs Karen Khachanov
Head-to-head: first meeting
Roman Safiullin has been delivering some truly ridiculous performances recently, particularly at Wimbledon or against Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev in Shanghai. His game is never going to be consistent, but it is unbelievably imposing when he’s on. Of the ATP 500 events this week, you’d probably expect more from him on the quicker courts of Basel though. Karen Khachanov could be in trouble right away here, but he’s the more reliable player of the two.
Prediction: Khachanov in 3
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Cameron Norrie vs Filip Misolic
Head-to-head: first meeting
Cameron Norrie is on a four-match losing streak, but the quality of the opposition he’s faced has been off the charts. Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz were his last two ATP 500 opening draws, so Filip Misolic is definitely a bit of a breath of fresh air. The Austrian qualifier doesn’t have to go down that easy though. Last week, he scored his first main tour win on hard courts and it was over World No. 34 Daniel Evans. He did get pretty soundly beaten by Gael Monfils after that though. Big opportunity for Norrie and some pressure him on too.
Prediction: Norrie in 2
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Alexander Zverev vs Sebastian Ofner
Head-to-head: Zverev 2-0 Ofner
Alexander Zverev was looking like a top 5 player in Cincinnati/New York and then Chengdu/Beijing, but he’s since lost his way slightly with two early losses. To maintain the status of a top-five star, he has to be winning matches like this. Sebastian Ofner is in the form of his life though and especially at home, he might be a dangerous sleeper in this draw. The good thing for Zverev is that he beat him quite handily in their two previous meetings. Expect him to step up, but Ofner won’t go down without a fight.
Prediction: Zverev in 3
Main photo credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
