Day 2 of the ATP Antwerp Open features American #1 Reilly Opelka taking on fellow American Jenson Brooksby, with teenager Lorenzo Musetti looking for just his third win in four months against a fellow Italian. We look at all of the day’s matches. Four are in this article, and the other four are in a separate article.
ATP Antwerp Day 2 Predictions
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs Jordan Thompson
Head-to-head: Thompson 1-0
Although he’s lost his last three matches–one horrendous one to August Holmgren, who is ranked outside the top 800–Thompson has shown in the past that outside of clay he can beat a fair amount of the top 100. The same can’t be said about his opponent. The Spaniard has struggled heavily after Roland Garros, with just five wins in his last ten events. On a hard court Thompson’s variety should be enough to expose the clay-courter’s game providing he puts in a fairly decent performance.
Prediction: Thompson in 3
Alex De Minaur vs Brandon Nakashima
Head-to-head: 0-0
A 20-year-old against a 22-year-old. It feels like a similar tale with both looking so promising at times only for their purple patch to end all of a sudden and losses flowing. Thankfully for the American, he has two qualifying wins under his belt here just to get back to winning ways. Unfortunately, though, De Minaur put together by far his best tennis last week in Indian Wells since winning the title in Eastbourne. It’s a tough one to call. It’s hard to expect the Australian to continue at a high level just because it’s extremely hard to do after injury, which is why Nakashima has the edge here in my eyes.
Prediction: Nakashima in 3
Zizou Bergs vs Lloyd Harris
Head-to-head: 0-0
It’s no surprise the Belgian is a wild card, especially being ranked #186 in the world. Despite second round losses in San Diego and Indian Wells, Harris has backed up his US Open quarterfinal fairly well, barely losing to Top 15 players Casper Ruud and Diego Schwartzman–both in tight matches. Simply put, Harris has played like a Top 30 player this year and there’s a reason Bergs is ranked where he is and playing challengers more often that not.
Prediction: Harris in 2
Reilly Opelka vs Jenson Brooksby
Head-to-head: 0-0
No doubt one of the matches of the round and the hopes of America’s future in the men’s game. What makes this so interesting is how different both men play. Opelka is all about a huge serve and power whilst Brooksby’s serve is poor for his height and relies on breaking opponents down from the baseline. Indoors I feel Opelka will get enough free points to put the pressure on Brooksby massively and edge it out.
Prediction: Opelka in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
