Tennis: Abrams has two more 1st round picks for Tuesday at the Hungarian Open – Millman v Kecmanovic, Lajovic v Valkusz

Hungarian Open
Budapest, Hungary
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Round of 32

John Millman over Miomir Kecmanovic
This is a pretty tough match to call, but I’m giving the edge to Millman, the fighter from Down Under. Kecmanovic is a 19-year-old from Serbia who lives and trains in Bradenton, Fla., and sports a winning record of 5-4 on the Tour in 2019. Lest you think that record is mediocre, rest assured that any winning record is good, and when you’re only 19, it’s a wonderful stepping-stone. Still, Millman is experienced, is a terrific competitor, is aggressive and keeps coming at you even on this slow clay stuff, which can be very unnerving. Millman is already 29, but we’ve only known him as a mainstream player since his breakthrough at the U.S. Open in 2018 when he took out Roger Federer in the Round of 16. He has fought back from serious surgery twice—once in 2017 for his groin, and once in 2013 for his shoulder that kept him out of professional tennis for eleven months. But here he is, ranked No. 39, and poised to take out the Serbian teenager.

Dusan Lajovic over Mate Valkusz
Lajovic is coming off a wonderful week in Monte Carlo where he got all the way to the finals of that Masters 500 event before going down to champion Fabio Fognini. Now, with his ranking all the way up to No. 24, Lajovic will most likely be seeded in almost every event he plays from now until this time next year. Valkusz, who, at age 20 is just trying to make a name for himself on the Tour, got himself a favorite son wild card directly into the main draw here and will be playing just his third career main draw match and first of this year. His total career prize money? Just $40,111. It kinda makes you want to root for him, doesn’t it? He and Nenad Zimonjic, the 42-year-old wonder who has returned to the ATP Tour with two new hips, lost their first round doubles match yesterday to the Skupski brothers, and I’m sorry to say that Valkusz stands little change against Lajovic, who is now considered a damn good win.