Basel R1 previews and predictions: Federer vs. Krajinovic, Struff vs. Millman

Roger Federer and John Millman are one win each away from a rematch of Millman’s shocking fourth-round upset of the Swiss at the U.S. Open. Federer meets Filip Krajinovic in the Basel first round; Millman takes on Jan-Lennard Struff.

(1) Roger Federer vs. Filip Krajinovic

Roger Federer kicks off his home tournament against Serbian Filip Krajinovic. The two men have met already in 2018 (in Indian Wells), though Krajinovic probably wishes he could forget that particular match–as he got shellacked 6-2, 6-1. His prospects don’t look much better in Basel.

First, Federer is playing in front of the home crowd at the tournament in which he once performed ballkid duties. And unlike other players who wilt under the pressure, Federer rather enjoys being the favorite. Second, Krajinovic isn’t playing particularly inspired tennis at the moment. He lost in straight sets to Andreas Seppi–and Seppi is no Roger Federer.

Anything other than another dominant performance by the Swiss Maestro would be a complete surprise.

Cheryl pick: Federer in easy straight sets

Ricky pick: Federer in 2 losing 8-10 games

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Jan-Lennard Struff vs. John Millman

Few tennis results in 2018 were as surprising as John Millman’s upset of Federer at the U.S. Open. The Australian came out of nowhere to dispatch Federer in the round of 16 in a miserably hot and humid night match. That Millman coped better with the conditions was one of the shocks. The Aussie is currently No. 36 in the world, just off a career high of No. 33 last week.

Millman’s Tuesday opponent is German Jan-Lennard Struff, ranked 52nd in the world. Struff is having a good second half of 2018. He has generally been able to win a handful of matches at most 250 and 500 events he enters–even managing to win a pair of matches at the U.S. Open. His failure to get to the latter stages of a tournament affects his ranking, which is (in some ways) lower than it should be.

Struff has been the better player this fall, as Millman has slumped since his run to the quarters in Flushing Meadows. Expect a hard-fought match, with the German just coming out ahead.

Cheryl pick: Struff in 3

Ricky pick: Struff in 3

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