John Isner will be looking to kick off another impressive run in Atlanta when he takes the court against Vasek Pospisil on Wednesday. Lukas Lacko and local favorite Donald Young are also on the schedule.
Vasek Pospisil vs. (2) John Isner
Isner will be bidding for a fourth BB&T Atlanta Open title and at the very least an appearance in his sixth final when he kicks off his 2017 campaign on Wednesday. The 6’10” American is 23-4 lifetime in Atlanta with consecutive titles in 2013, 2014, 2015. He almost made it four in a row last summer but finished runner-up for the third time in his career when he fell to Nick Kyrgios in a pair of tiebreakers. This season has mostly been a struggle for Isner, but he picked up some confidence this past week by lifting a winner’s trophy on the grass courts of Newport.
Up first for the No. 2 seed on Wednesday is a sixth career contest against Pospisil. Whereas Isner enjoyed a first-round bye, Pospisil had nothing of the sort. Instead, the 68th-ranked Canadian battled for two hours and 39 minutes on Tuesday afternoon and outlasted Bjorn Fratangelo 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3). Pospisil is coming off a solid grass-court swing that featured successful qualification in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (quarterfinals), Halle (first round), and Eastbourne (second round) prior to an opening Wimbledon setback at the hands of Dominic Thiem. The 27-year-old would obviously prefer to play this one on the green stuff. In conditions that absolutely ideal for Isner and with Pospisil coming off a tough first-rounder, this should be mostly one-way traffic.
Pick: Isner in 2
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(6) Donald Young vs. Lukas Lacko
Young and Lacko will be squaring off for the third time on their careers on Wednesday. The head-to-head series is all tied up at one win apiece, with Young cruising 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at the 2011 U.S. Open before Lacko prevailed 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 one season later at the Australian Open. Young once again has home-court advantage like he did in their first meeting–this time to an even greater extent. The 51st-ranked American is from Atlanta and actually lives right by the venue of this tournament. He had never done well in front of the home crowd prior to 2016, but Young reached the quarterfinals last summer and rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 blowout of Tim Smyczek on Tuesday.
Lacko is slumping down at No. 129 in the world and is just 4-5 at the ATP level this year despite taking care of Thomas Fabbiano 6-1, 6-2 on Monday. The Slovak won only a single main-draw match on grass (beat Reilly Opelka in Newport and then lost to eventual runner-up Matthew Ebden) and failed to qualify at Wimbledon. He is a decent 5-4 lifetime in Atlanta with two quarterfinal appearances, but Young has played the best tennis of his life throughout 2017 and looks poised for some more success in his hometown.
Pick: Young in 2
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Young in 3 and Isner in 2
Every single time this site has to pick one loser. I don’t know what it is with it. I have to always try to figure out which landmine you set. Why do you consistently put out one loss with every article.