Last week’s Almaty champion Karen Khachanov and Stockholm runner-up Grigor Dimitrov will begin their ATP Erste Bank Open campaigns on Wednesday in Vienna. To end the day on Center Court, Frances Tiafoe will face Matteo Berrettini in an exciting second-round clash. Who do you think will advance? We also predict the rest of the day’s matches in a separate article.
ATP Vienna Day 3 Predictions
Karen Khachanov vs Thiago Seyboth Wild
Head-to-head: Seyboth Wild 1-0
Thiago Seyboth Wild already defeated Karen Khachanov this year. The Brazilian was really strong during that Sunshine Double, but lost that form not long after. Now he’s finally picking his game up and has won five matches already in Antwerp and Vienna combined. But Khachanov is also coming in with plenty of confidence after capturing the title in Almaty. It hasn’t been a perfect season for the Russian and that second title improves his situation greatly. He’s the better indoor player too.
Prediction: Khachanov in 2
Grigor Dimitrov vs Zhizhen Zhang
Head-to-head: First meeting
Grigor Dimitrov is still hoping for to qualify for the ATP Finals, an event he hasn’t played since winning it in his debut appearance in 2017. That will require some huge results from here and while the Bulgarian made the final in Stockholm last week, his quality of play was pretty up and down throughout the week. Nonetheless, Dimitrov is usually quite reliable in these early rounds and Zhizhen Zhang would need to produce a spectacular performance to blast through his backhand slice without making too many errors.
Prediction: Dimitrov in 3
Frances Tiafoe vs Matteo Berrettini
Head-to-head: 1-1
Frances Tiafoe often loses some of his spark after the US Open and something similar might be happening right now. The first round win over Cameron Norrie was pretty good though and maybe the American still has one or two runs left in him this season. But it won’t be easy to get it against Matteo Berrettini, who has returned to the top of the sport and was serving incredibly well against Marton Fucsovics. It’s the Italian who looks like the marginal favorite here.
Prediction: Berrettini in 3
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
