{"id":62417,"date":"2024-01-02T17:45:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T22:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=62417"},"modified":"2024-01-02T17:45:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T22:45:46","slug":"atp-hong-kong-day-3-predictions-tiafoe-kecmanovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/01\/02\/atp-hong-kong-day-3-predictions-tiafoe-kecmanovic\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP Hong Kong Day 3 Predictions Including Frances Tiafoe vs Miomir Kecmanovic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The second round starts on the third day of the ATP 250 in Hong Kong. Which men will advance to their first quarterfinal of the year? As always, we here at LWOT share our thoughts on all the matches with you.<\/p>\n<h2>ATP Hong Kong Day 3 Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4>Botic van de Zandschulp vs Juncheng Shang<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head\u2013to\u2013Head: <\/strong>First meeting<\/p>\n<p>Juncheng Shang displayed <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2023\/03\/23\/meet-shang-juncheng-new-chinese-wonderkid\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">tremendous resilience<\/a> and grit to overcome the more experienced Laslo Djere from a set down in the first round and he\u2019ll be looking to take advantage of Botic van de Zandschlup\u2019s lucky win against Shintaro Mochizuki to move into the third round.<\/p>\n<p>The Dutchman has often made solid starts to the season, especially over the last three years Down Under, and will be hoping to keep the consistency going.<\/p>\n<p>While this is set up for the favorite to win, Juncheng Shang will be the more determined to grind out a win and he should take advantage of any opportunities that will likely come his way.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Shang in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"RO8W9hbpTvBERny4L0fecg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1697582251\" 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:'RO8W9hbpTvBERny4L0fecg',sig:'SH-qcxR6OZRNNr1bidXfKfqC5SFuPFM5MO6_rPQ5qT0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1697582251',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Emil Ruusuvuori vs Karen Khachanov<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head\u2013to\u2013Head: <\/strong>Ruusuvuori 0 \u2013 2 Khachanov<\/p>\n<p>Karen Khachanov will eventually win a major if he can overcome his inconsistencies and lack of fitness. He is unplayable when he is in the mood and the fact that he\u2019s still within the top 20 bracket is a testament to the immense talent the Russian possesses.<\/p>\n<p>Like Khachanov, Emil Ruusuvuori was bugged down with fitness and injury concerns for most of last season. He struggled to get past Benjamin Bonzi in the opening round and if that\u2019s anything to go by, this should be a walk in the park for the Russian. Moreso, Khachanov has been dominant in their head-to-head.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Khachanov in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"XUAfpXVMQclJQelD2KJngA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1779024813\" 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:'XUAfpXVMQclJQelD2KJngA',sig:'6MjS9fprzEywgi0lOiYKJvAbzYD9lhy7-oOOELbvcRE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1779024813',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Lorenzo Musetti vs Pavel Kotov<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head\u2013to\u2013Head: <\/strong>Musetti 1 \u2013 0 Kotov<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/01\/24\/challenger-tour-weekly-recap-kotov-galan\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Pavel Kotov<\/a>\u2019s dominant win over Nuno Borges in the first round only shows this won\u2019t be an easy match for the young Italian especially as he had difficulties defeating the homeboy wild card Chak Lam Coleman.<\/p>\n<p>Musetti is the better player and has superior talent but his performances on hard courts have been unconvincing. Unless he ups his game, this is a winnable match for the Russian and I\u2019m backing him to get over the line in a close encounter.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Kotov in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"CAuBQcqfQOtopMwdp6QAmw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1644721977\" 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:'CAuBQcqfQOtopMwdp6QAmw',sig:'m_vneBlXSGs9LLDCgFTeqf2Z-Z1JyMp1pJW7VYB03oA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1644721977',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Frances Tiafoe vs Miomir Kecmanovic<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head\u2013to\u2013Head: <\/strong>Tiafoe 3 \u2013 1 Kecmanovic<\/p>\n<p>Frances Tiafoe had a satisfactory 2023 season&#8211;even making it into the Top 10 along the line before ending the year at a respectable #16. The American won the title at his home tournament in Houston and made it as far as the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n<p>His Serbian opponent has made a good start to this season despite all the inconsistencies of last year and if he can replicate his superb first-round win over Daniel Taro, he can close in on the head-to-head.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Kecmanovic in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The second round starts on the third day of the ATP 250 in Hong Kong. Which men will advance to their first quarterfinal of the year? As always, we here at LWOT share our thoughts on all the matches with you. ATP Hong Kong Day 3 Predictions Botic van de Zandschulp vs Juncheng Shang Head\u2013to\u2013Head: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4883,"featured_media":58649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[41792,41785,18027,18028,18647,8884,10332,15491,12842,17009,18524,18525],"class_list":["post-62417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-atp-hong-kong","tag-atp-hong-kong-predictions","tag-botic-van-de-zandschlup","tag-botic-van-de-zandschlup-predictions","tag-emil-ruusuvouri-predictions","tag-emil-ruusuvuori","tag-lorenzo-musetti","tag-lorenzo-musetti-predictions","tag-pavel-kotov","tag-pavel-kotov-predictions","tag-shang-juncheng","tag-shang-juncheng-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62417","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\/4883"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}