This week’s ATP Tennis action at Munich, Estoril and Istanbul is now down to the second-round stage with all first-round matches being completed yesterday, and the first four seeds start their campaigns today or Thursday. At Munich there were a few first round upsets with seventh seed Monfils crashing out in three sets against the underrated Basic, who won his first ATP title at Sofia earlier this year. Budapest winner Cecchinato surprisingly backed that draining win up with a first round win against veteran and favourite Fognini and potential NextGen star and Wild Card Rudd from Norway knocked out the more experienced Copil in straight sets.
Both of my outright selections for Munich Kohlschreiber and Klizan thankfully won their first-round matches against Karlovic and Florian Mayer respectively. Klizan will face Basic next, and Klizan leads the head-to-head 1-0, and Kohlschreiber faces compatriot and veteran Mischa Zverev, who leads the head-to-head 1-0. The top-four seeds at Munich start their campaigns today and Thursday, and top-seed Sasha Zverev faces compatriot Hanfman for the first time, second seed Bautista Agut faces Wild Card Rudd for the first time, third seed Schwartzman faces another German Marterer and Schwartzman leads the head-to-head 1-0 and fourth seed Chung faces another German Wild Card Bachinger for the first time today.
At Estoril we unfortunately lost outright selection Leonardo Mayer, who won the first set and lead by a break twice in the second set, but he was unable to put the match away against the talented Jarry, eventually losing 3-6 7-6 6-4. There were several other first round match upsets, the biggest being Britain’s Cameron Norrie knocking out the experienced veteran and sixth seed Haase 6-4 3-6 6-3. Wild Card Australian NextGen star De Minaur thrashed home hope Elias 6-3 6-1 and Portuguese Wild Card Pedro Sousa held his nerve impressively to send veteran Simon packing 6-4 4-6 7-6. Tiafoe won the all-American battle against Sandgren coming from a set down to win 3-6 7-6 7-6, Italian qualifier and veteran Bolleli thrashed Portuguese qualifier Domingues 6-3 6-2. Delbonis knocked out fifth seed Ramos Vinolas (as predicted on Monday) in straight sets 6-2 6-4 and finally one of my advised match betting selections Fratangelo failed to repeat his last win on clay against Spaniard Carbelles Baena losing in straight sets 7-6 6-3.
Today’s action at Estoril features third seed and British number one. who faces the talented Australian De Minaur, and this could be a tough match for Edmunds as Di Minaur has been playing excellently so far this year and he’s a typical gritty competitor like Leyton Hewitt. One of my other outright selection at Estoril fourth seed and veteran Muller faces a tough opener against the talented NextGen star Tiafoe for the first time. There’s an all Portuguese tie today between the experienced Joao Sousa and Wild Card Pedro Sousa and Joao leads the head-to-head 2-0, but these games were back in 2013 and 2010 and with Pedro improving since then and looking good beating Simon I expect this will be a tight encounter. The final match of the day at Estoril is between Delbonis and qualifier and veteran Bolleli, who leads the head-to-head 1-0 which came back in 2015.
At Istanbul it’s been a good two days for favourite backers with no major upsets, but unfortunately, we lost two of our outright selections Gimeno-Traver, who was disappointing losing 6-3 6-1 by the out of form Vesely, and Berretini who was beaten by Japan’s Daniel in straight sets. Better news for Chardy my one remaining out right tip Chard who won his opener against eighth seed Ablatively 7-5 6-3. There are four matches taking place today at Istanbul and Italian veteran and third seed Seppi opens his campaign against Djere and this is there first meeting. Fourth seed Bedene also opens his campaign today and faces Japan’s Daniel for the second time and the last encounter came back in 2015 on clay. The other two singles matches at Istanbul today are between sixth seed and veteran Troicki from Serbia and Brazilian veteran Dutra Silva and fifth seed and veteran Lorenzi and qualifier Trungelliti from Argentina and they’ve met four times to date, all on clay between 2012 and 2014.
From a match betting perspective at Munich It could prove profitable to oppose fourth seed Chung against German Wild Card Bachinger, as Chung has not played since Indian Wells or on clay recently and he could be caught cold against the experienced match tough German. The best bet for this encounter could be backing Over 20.5 Games as i think it could be a close match and given Chung’s talent he could still win not playing at his best. At Estoril I think it’s worth opposing third seed Edmunds against the talented De Minuar, who looked impressive winning his opener and he has the aggressive gritty game that’s capable of causing Edmunds a lot of trouble if he’s not at his best today.
At Istanbul I think the match between fourth seed Bedene and Daniel could be a close affair as Bedene had a lot of tough three set matches at Budapest last week and looked fatigued toward the end of the tournament that might catch up with him today. I would not be surprised if Daniel wins today as he’s talented and a tough competitor and its worth opposing Bedene on that basis. Finally, I think the match between qualifier Trungelliti and sixth seed Lorenzi could be closer than the odds suggest as Trungelliti is on a great run winning his last eleven matches, including qualifying this week, and with Lorenzi’s form on clay below his usual high standard so far this season I think its worth considering backing Over 22.5 Games as its unlikely Lorenzi will win at a stroll today.
