{"id":47106,"date":"2022-02-22T19:02:11","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T00:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=47106"},"modified":"2022-02-22T19:08:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T00:08:23","slug":"atp-dubai-day-3-predictions-djokovic-khachanov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/02\/22\/atp-dubai-day-3-predictions-djokovic-khachanov\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP Dubai Day 3 Predictions Including Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Day 2 of the ATP 500 Dubai Championships featured an equal share of upsets and expected outcomes. What will Day 3 bring? Last year\u2019s champion has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis-tourtalk.com\/85814\/mcdonald-knocks-out-karatsev-in-dubai\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">already bowed out<\/a>; could the world #1 be upset as well? We share our thoughts on all the day&#8217;s matches, split between this and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/02\/22\/atp-dubai-day-3-predictions-murray-sinner\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a separate article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>ATP Dubai Day 3 Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Andrey Rublev vs Soonwoo Kwon<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Rublev 1-0 Kwon<\/p>\n<p>Kwon has been playing his best tennis the last six months, and has started the year well, including a quick win over Ilya Ivashka in Round 1. If anything bodes well for his chances against the world #7 it\u2019s that, but their last meeting (recently in Rotterdam) bodes less well. Rublev won 6-3 6-3 and has been on a tear this year, going 10-2 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/felix-rublev-marseille-2022-final\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">with a title<\/a>, and finishing Dan Evans in straight sets to start the tournament. I like <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/01\/23\/andrey-rublev-rising-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Rublev on the fast courts<\/a>, with his quick forehand and fast reflexes.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Rublev in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"TGx7okMxRqFUUijscXupTA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1238351950\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'TGx7okMxRqFUUijscXupTA',sig:'zKUvyEgYcJy_TBWsF1U42MLLcBu7O7cTZQSTYfdcmWo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1238351950',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Alexei Popyrin vs Ricardas Berankis<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> first meeting<\/p>\n<p>Both Popyrin and Berankis provided upsets in Round 1, strangely enough against opponents similar to each other. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/02\/28\/alexei-popyrin-stock-rising-fast\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Popyrin is like a lankier version<\/a> of Jan-Lennard Struff, and Berankis is like a smaller version of Nikoloz Basilashvili. This should be the speedier, less powerful version of those two matches combined. Popryin\u2019s win is the more impressive, but Berankis has played a little better this season. Berankis has a higher win percentage on hard courts, and has fared a little better at this tournament, in addition to having more experience in general; but Popyrin is younger and fresher, with his opponent coming off a three-set match to his two-setter. This may end up being a more interesting match than its ranking would seem to warrant, with a lot of back-and-forth. And with little to distinguish them, we\u2019ll just go with the ranking here.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Popyrin in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"d5CUnZX0Tk9hm58cZbbDvw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1365323086\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'d5CUnZX0Tk9hm58cZbbDvw',sig:'bSJl7LlcDJCTgJ-cywRDztpz5-8ZRz-WRGEXcK7JHDo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1365323086',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mackenzie McDonald vs Filip Krajinovic<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> first meeting<\/p>\n<p>McDonald was impressive in his first round upset of Aslan Karatsev, serving fifteen aces and winning a whopping 11 of 13 break points en route to a straight-sets victory. Meanwhile, Krajinovic survived a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/scores\/stats-centre\/archive\/2022\/495\/MS029\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three-set scare<\/a> against a 38-year old player who sits outside the top 300. Krajinovic is usually the better player by a little margin, and has played decently in Dubai in the past, but neither player has shown anything impressive this year until McDonald\u2019s Round 1 triumph. The match should feature long rallies, as both players like to sit on the ball and induce errors, which may favor the younger and fresher American. I like his hot hand at the moment, as well, and the fact that Krajinovic plays a lot like a less-powerful Karatsev.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: McDonald in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"fcFAGGrlRidTlSg40ZtYUA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1365555715\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'fcFAGGrlRidTlSg40ZtYUA',sig:'rZqmtBBVygKXkoY5IM1lI74RDDadH2uSqvu0wA_vmUY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1365555715',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Djokovic 4-1 Khachanov<\/p>\n<p>People are saying that Djokovic has gotten a difficult draw, but that feels more appropriate to say for Khachanov here. A quick, straight-sets victory over a talented young <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/06\/06\/lorenzo-musetti-big-stage-player\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Lorenzo Musetti<\/a> has the world #1 looking a lot like the world #1, though it\u2019s fair to mention that Musetti prefers clay. Khachanov eked out a victory over Alex de Minaur in Round 1, and has had a decent start to the season, though without any top 20 victories. The two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/djokovic-monfils-gasquet-dubai-2020-thursday\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">met here in 2020<\/a>, with Djokovic taking an easy match 6-2 6-2, and it would not be a surprise to see the hungry Serb continue his dominance.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Djokovic in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo from Getty.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Day 2 of the ATP 500 Dubai Championships featured an equal share of upsets and expected outcomes. What will Day 3 bring? Last year\u2019s champion has already bowed out; could the world #1 be upset as well? We share our thoughts on all the day&#8217;s matches, split between this and a separate article. ATP Dubai [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4072,"featured_media":44701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[3970,15508,511,15413,4849,10870,2203,15455,844,15516,2400,15602,22,15556,2183,15495,7504,16667,2373,2369],"class_list":["post-47106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-alexei-popyrin","tag-alexei-popyrin-predictions","tag-andrey-rublev","tag-andrey-rublev-predictions","tag-atp-dubai-predictions","tag-dubai-duty-free-tennis-championships-predictions","tag-filip-krajinovic","tag-filip-krajinovic-predictions","tag-karen-khachanov","tag-karen-khachanov-predictions","tag-mackenzie-mcdonald","tag-mackenzie-mcdonald-predictions","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-novak-djokovic-predictions","tag-ricardas-berankis","tag-ricardas-berankis-predictions","tag-soonwoo-kwon","tag-soonwoo-kwon-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}