Day 3 at the ATP Almaty Open will see six intriguing matches take place, such as local wild card Timofey Skatov facing the red-hot Tomas Machac, #4 Francisco Cerundolo facing 2007-born Justin Engel, and second seed Alejandro Tabilo taking on Maximilian Marterer. We also look at the rest of Wednesday’s matches in a separate article. Who do you think will win?
ATP Almaty Day 3 Predictions
Timofey Skatov vs Tomas Machac
Head-to-head: First meeting
As a Kazakh player, Skatov will have some nice crowd support and will surely leave everything he has on court, but there is seemingly little he can do here. Machac is red-hot, winning seven out of his last nine matches and taking down Carlos Alcaraz. Additionally, he also won two indoor hard court Challengers last year. Skatov is a clay-courter, and he’s facing a version of Machac that very few can compete with. The Czech star should advance comfortably.
Prediction: Machac in 2
Justin Engel vs Francisco Cerúndolo
Head-to-head: First meeting
Justin Engel made fantastic use of his wild card by defeating Coleman Wong in the first round, demonstrating a very solid ability to stay calm under pressure, saving 9/10 break points en route to a first ATP victory. But, as irregular as Francisco Cerúndolo is and as much as his interest in giving his all at a 250 event in Central Asia remains to be seen, the Argentinian should advance without much trouble here against an extremely inexperienced player.
Prediction: Cerúndolo in 2
Maximilian Marterer vs Alejandro Tabilo
Head-to-head: Marterer 0-1 Tabilo
What a difficult match this is to predict, and not exactly for the right reasons. Marterer has had a horrible 2024, winning just six out of 19 matches on hard courts. Tabilo, for his part, will probably consider this season a success overall, considering he’s won his first two ATP titles and achieved a career high of #19, but he’s currently basically unable to win a match, losing 11/14 since Wimbledon. This could truly go either way and could very well come down to who holds his nerves better, but the slightly more likely winner is probably the Chilean, considering his pedigree and the fact he beat Marterer at Indian Wells earlier this year.
Prediction: Tabilo in 3
Main Photo Credit: Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports
