Aleksandar Kovacevic defeated Dominik Koepfer two years ago in Indianapolis, but then lost to the same opponent in Cary and at Los Cabos. Now they’ll get to take on each other in the opening round of the ATP Dallas Open. Can the German, who helped his national team a lot by beating Fabian Marozsan in Hungary, take down Kovacevic again? We also have predictions for the rest of Tuesday’s matches in a separate article. Who do you think will prevail?
ATP Dallas Day 2 Predictions
Tennys Sandgren vs Alex Michelsen
Head-to-head: 1-1
Tennys Sandgren was still able to push Alex Michelsen in Knoxville just a few months ago, but of course these players are on very different trajectories. The 19-year-old is grabbing useful experience left and right now and particularly the Australian Open was an excellent showing from him overall. It seems doubtful that the veteran still has enough game to win this one, despite occasional flashes of brilliance even this season already.
Prediction: Michelsen in 2
James Duckworth vs Zachary Svajda
Head-to-head: First meeting
James Duckworth has started the season very strong and is coming off a semifinal appearance in Cleveland, losing to the eventual champion Patrick Kypson. The Australian probably shouldn’t be dreading the matchup with Zachary Svajda, who remains quite unreliable. It’s going to be one of these dynamics that the youngster enjoys with him mostly playing reactive tennis, but Duckworth might be doing well enough at the moment to overwhelm him.
Prediction: Duckworth in 3
Emilio Nava vs Michael Mmoh
Head-to-head: First meeting
Michael Mmoh was just in Montpellier last week, losing in the quarterfinals to Holger Rune. The American would probably still be ranked in the top 100 if not for the injuries and soon he’ll have about 3-months where won’t be defending points at all. If he can bring his quality from Montpellier here, he should probably take this one. Emilio Nava will need to find a lot more consistency than usual to blast Mmoh and his very physical playstyle off the court.
Prediction: Mmoh in 2
Dominik Koepfer vs Aleksandar Kovacevic
Head-to-head: Koepfer 2-1
This has been a pretty exciting mini-rivalry the past couple of years, Aleksandar Kovacevic getting the first strike in but losing the next two matches. Dominik Koepfer is such a tricky opponent with the lefty spins and return skills. This certainly looks pretty open with Kovacevic growing a lot as a match player as well. But Koepfer has to be perceived as the slight favorite and his game seems to matchup nicely against all the big-servers and attackers.
Prediction: Koepfer in 3
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
