The ATP moves to Acapulco for the Mexican Open and Abrams offers Monday first round picks
And so the circus moves on….Like last year, the guys go from the heat of South Florida to the heat and humidity of Acapulco, where their annual ATP 500 tournament gets under way today. Few matches are scheduled for today, and as a nod to the conditions in Mexico, the matches don’t begin until tonight, but let’s get right to reviewing them.
Although few Men’s matches are scheduled, both the Ladies and the Men’s draws begin today. For the Men, Aussie Alex de Minaur is scheduled for the men at 7 pm EST, while Heather Watson and Coco Vandeweghe do battle at 5 pm. De Minaur takes on Miomir Kecmanovic, a tough opponent any way you look at it, but they’ve played once, on hard courts, in which de Minaur didn’t to seem to be in too much danger, so I think the Aussie should take this one as well. Their match will be followed by a good one, 3rd seeded Stan Wawrinka against the Big Foe, Frances Tiafoe. Wawrinka is playing the better of the two, and he’s won their only meeting. Additionally, after watching Tiafoe play this past week in Delray, I’ve gotta believe that the Swiss will win this match.
If Tiafoe makes it close, I’d be happy for him, but surprised, based on what I just saw. Brit Kyle Edmund takes on Spain’s 38-year-old Feliciano Lopez to finish off the Stadium matches tonight. Normally I’d take Lopez, because he’s still good enough to beat anyone, but 38 is getting up there, and Edmund is tough and only 25 years-old. He’s won their only match. That means a lot to me. I’m going with the Brit, yet realize that if Lopez plays how he is still capable of playing, he will win this match.
The Grandstand hosts Brit Cam Norrie, who enters this as a wildcard, against France’s Adrian Mannarino. Mannarino is ranked higher (42 to 58), and is a slight betting favorite, but based on what I saw from him last week, and the fact that Norrie has won both matches they’ve played against each other, I’d go with Norrie here, although I’d expect a real battle. Mannarino hasn’t won over $7 Million because he loses a lot. These guys will be followed by a match that is really tough to pick. American Tommy Paul (ranked #66) will take on former NCAA Singles champion Mackie McDonald (ranked #196), also American, and this is really a “pick-em” match. I’m a Tommy Paul fan, but I was not impressed with what I saw from him last week in South Florida. His game is well rounded, but when push comes to shove, he has a hard time closing out matches, and when he lost to Big Foe last week, he held set points and was in control of great portions of the match, but just couldn’t serve it out. Tiafoe also showed, on numerous occasions, that he was the better athlete of the two, and that’s not good for Paul. But Paul won two matches to qualify for the main draw, and beat Daniel Elahi Galan in straight sets in the second one, so that means he’s recovered from his week in Florida. Still, McDonald has had his issues, and he is finding it hard to buy too many wins. If I had to pick one of the two, and I do, I’d go with Paul…with reservations.
Another UCLA NCAA former Singles Champion, Marcos Giron, takes on wildcard Mexican Gerardo Lopez Villasenor in the Stadium nightcap. This should be all Giron. The traveling pros on Tour just love it when they draw a local wildcard, because usually the player is not as good as the rest of the traveling circus. That’s the case here. Although Giron won two matches to qualify, his second match, a three-set win over Taro Daniel, could be considered reasonably impressive, and shows that the American is playing well enough at this point to beat a local.
Those are the only six Men’s matches scheduled for today, with the bulk of the first round (Rafa, Isner, Kyrgios, etc.) scheduled for tomorrow.