Second-round action will get underway in Marrakech on Wednesday, when Borna Coric begins his week against Simone Bolelli. In Houston, teenagers Hyeon Chung and Tommy Paul are poised to go head-to-head.
Marrakech: (3) Borna Coric vs. Simone Bolelli
Coric will be hoping to bounce back from a rough loss in Miami when he takes the court at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Wednesday. The 19-year-old Croat served for a straight-set win against Denis Istomin in the opening round but ended up losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. Coric is a decent 9-9 for his 2016 campaign, but he has cooled off since finishing runner-up in Chennai.
Up first for the world No. 48 in Marrakech is Bolelli, whom he has never faced. Bolelli punched his ticket to the second round by defeating Taro Daniel 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday. Thus ended a four-match losing streak for the 84th-ranked Italian dating back round two of the Australian Open. He is still a dreadful 2-6 on the season. Bolelli will have to do a lot more than score of a victory over Daniel in order to restored his confidence, and Coric should be able to take advantage.
Pick:Â Coric in 2
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Houston: Hyeon Chung vs. (WC) Tommy Paul
It will be a first-ever showdown between Chung and Paul when the two teenagers square off at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship on Wednesday. Both players battled to strong wins in the first round; Chung held off Victor Estrella Burgos 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-0 on Monday before Paul got the best of Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday.
That is an especially impressive clay-court for Paul, an 18-year-old American who registers right at 200th in the rankings. It marked the first ATP-level match victory of his career (previously 0-4). Chung’s game appears to be more conducive to hard courts, but he still delivered a final-set sweep of an accomplished clay-courter in Estrella Burgos. The world No. 71 owns six main-tour match wins this season and 20 for his career. Chung’s greater experience–relatively speaking–should be a factor as he tries to begin the spring clay-court swing with a quarterfinal performance.
Pick:Â Chung in 3
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who ya got?
Chung in straights and Coric in three though I could see Paul getting a set or maybe even the upset and Coric might routine him. Bolelli can be dangerous though but his confidence is low so Coric should win there plus Chung should use his better experience to get the W. I’m hoping Paul can make some noise with an upset though.
Coric got the WO
The Carreno-Busta/Donsky match in Marrakesh lends a whole new meaning to ’empty seats’.
There could be as many as 30 spectators: the few who are not in the players entourage are asleep 🙂
Irritatingly Tennis TV is not featuring the Houston tournament which looks a heap more interesting.
tennis is alive
I agree, in Houstin yes. Rather less so in Marrakesh.
Houston, we have a (spelling) problem
?
The Marrakesh Centre court appearance is very strange. Looks as if most of the surface clay has been swept off since the beginning of the week leaving bald patches. Almost impossible for the players to slide more than 30cms.
Much bigger crowd today ? ? There could be as many as 15 people in the public seats for the Jiri Vesely match.
huuuuuuuuuge