Alex Michelsen and Lorenzo Sonego will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season when they battle for the Winston-Salem Open title on Saturday afternoon.
Michelsen has without question been the best player all week long. The 19-year-old cruised past Marton Fucsovics and Zizou Bergs in straight sets, outlasted Chris Eubanks 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) in a high-quality quarterfinal thriller, and then got a retirement from Pablo Carreno Busta while leading 7-6(5), 2-1. This result comes as no surprise, as Michelsen just reached the Cincinnati second round as a qualifier to continue his impressive 2024 campaign that has him up to No. 52 in the world.
Sonego is one win away from what would quietly be his fourth ATP title, having previously triumphed once on grass (Antalya 2019), once on clay (Cagliari 2021), and once on indoor hard courts (Metz 2022). The 58th-ranked Italian has positioned himself to complete the surface quartet with an outdoor hard-court title after taking out Dominic Stricker, Pavel Kotov, and David Goffin earlier in the week (he also got a walkover from Jerry Shang). Unfortunately for Sonego, he is a terrible 35-47 on outdoor hard courts dating back to the start of 2020.
Michelsen lost their only previous encounter 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 at the Cagliari Challenger, but that was on clay. The American is now playing on his favorite surface and is in outstanding form. His summer also includes a runner-up showing in Newport, where he was one point away from his first ATP title before falling to Marcos Giron 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5.
The time is now for Michelsen to go one step farther and lift a winner’s trophy on the main tour for the first time.
Pick: Michelsen in 2
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