It’s time to wrap up the second round of the ATP 2024 Belgrade Open. Top seed Alex de Minaur has pulled out after his ATP Finals spot was confirmed, which leaves the door a bit more open for plenty of other contenders. But who will book their spot in the quarterfinals?
ATP Belgrade Day 4 Predictions
Daniel Altmaier vs Christopher O’Connell
Head-to-head: Altmaier 1-1 O’Connell
It feels like Christopher O’Connell has been playing a bit better than results suggest in the last few weeks, missing opportunities against Jacob Fearnley in Basel and eventual semifinalist Karen Khachanov in Paris. He proved it with a fantastic performance against Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening round, taking just a bit over an hour to dispatch the Serbian. While he’s split his two previous meetings with Daniel Altmaier, he generally should be a bit better than him indoors.
Prediction: O’Connell in 2
Embed from Getty Images
Francisco Cerundolo vs Roman Safiullin
Head-to-head: Safiullin 1-0 Cerundolo
Roman Safiullin demolished everyone on the way to the Bratislava title last week, only getting broken twice despite having to face the likes of Aslan Karatsev or Kei Nishikori. He kept up that form in his opening-round win against Fabio Fognini with 96% first-serve points going his way. Francisco Cerundolo can play well indoors, but is still a bit random away from his favorite surface. Safiullin already defeated him at Wimbledon this year and should have a good chance to do it again.
Prediction: Safiullin in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Fabian Marozsan vs Dusan Lajovic
Head-to-head: Marozsan 1-0 Lajovic
Fabian Marozsan could use a big run to end the season with his results this year being really inconsistent. He was able to grind out a gritty win over Juncheng Shang in the opening round and on paper has a slightly easier opponent here. While Dusan Lajovic will enjoy the crowd support, before this week he hadn’t won a single match since July. Given that he was never all that comfortable indoors, it seems like Marozsan’s weaponry could be too overwhelming here.
Prediction: Marozsan in 2
Embed from Getty Images
Laslo Djere vs Duje Ajdukovic
Head-to-head: first meeting
Duje Ajdukovic is pretty fortunate to start from the second round here despite losing to Marton Fucsovics in the qualifying. The Croat already made an ATP Tour semifinal this year in Bastad and was close to breaking the Top 100 on a few occasions. He still doesn’t care for percentage play, but is a scary ball-striker when on. This is a good opportunity for him with Laslo Djere looking to recover his form after a nightmare season, but the veteran is still the favorite here.
Prediction: Djere in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Denis Shapovalov vs Nuno Borges
Head-to-head: first meeting
Denis Shapovalov will finish top 100 after returning from a long injury in January, but it still seems like he could have achieved much more on his talent alone. Maybe he can finish off the season nicely with a big run here. His opening-round win featured a brutal tie-break lost from 6-2 up against Marton Fucsovics, but the Canadian did well to recover. Seems like Nuno Borges might be a slightly more comfortable opponent with the Portuguese yet to discover his indoor game.
Prediction: Shapovalov in 2
Main photo credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
