A loaded field in Astana, Kazakhstan for this ATP 500 event gets off to a strong start on Monday. Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime battles Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut and Russian Andrey Rublev will take on Serbia’s Laslo Djere.
(8) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
A little more than a year ago, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Roberto Bautista Agut treated the U.S. Open crowd to an epic five-set clash in the third round. Auger-Aliassime pulled that one out en route to the semifinals. Bautista Agut has not beaten Auger-Aliassime since a Davis Cup rubber in 2019, so the Canadian holds a 3-1 head-to-head over Bautista Agut.
The No. 8 seed had a miserable second-round loss to Jack Draper at this year’s installment of the U.S. Open, but since then he has racked up some impressive wins–including a 3-set victory over U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz in Davis Cup and a straight-set win over Novak Djokovic at the Laver Cup. It’s likely he has plenty of confidence headed into this week.
Bautista Agut’s U.S. Open was just as disappointing as his opponent’s. The Spaniard lost in three anemic sets to American JJ Wolf in the first round. The season hasn’t been all disappointment for him, however. He secured a pair of titles in Doha and Kitzbuhel and he is still ranked No. 21 in the world.
Given Auger-Aliassime’s form at the moment and the favorable matchup with Bautista-Agut’s baseline game, this should be a win for the Canadian.
Cheryl pick: Auger-Aliassime in 2
Ricky pick: Auger-Aliassime in 2
(5) Andrey Rublev vs. (Q) Laslo Djere
This is a rematch of a five-set battle between Andrey Rublev and Laslo Djere in the first round of the U.S. Open a month ago. Djere, who is ranked 72nd in the world, nearly took advantage of an out-of-sorts Rublev to get the upset, but it was the Russian who eventually prevailed. Rublev made his way all the way to the quarterfinals before going down to American Frances Tiafoe.
Rublev comes into this week with plenty of rest. He hasn’t played since his run in New York and while he had a relatively disappointing summer hard court swing, he posted wins over Denis Shapovalov and Cam Norrie at the U.S. Open–which seems to indicate that he has righted the ship.
Djere made a surprising run to the final of Winston-Salem this summer, but his results since then have been underwhelming. He has won a single main-draw match following that result. He did manage to qualify this weekend in Astana, but he lost in the first round of qualifying in Metz a couple weeks ago.
This one should go the Russian’s way in routine fashion.
Cheryl pick: Rublev in 2
Ricky pick: Rublev in 2
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