The Basel draw was not kind to Stanislas Wawrinka, who will try to pull off an upset of Casper Ruud in front of the home fans on Tuesday. First-round competition also includes a showdown between Miomir Kecmanovic and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
(PR) Stan Wawrinka vs. (2) Casper Ruud
Roger Federer’s reign at the Swiss Indoors Basel has come to an end, so the pressure is on Wawrinka to deliver in front of the home crowd. The 37-year-old Swiss is just 13-13 lifetime at this tournament and–amazingly–has never made it to the final. You might think that Federer was a big reason for Wawrinka’s shortcomings, but Federer beat him only once–in the 2011 semifinals. Based on current form, Wawrinka probably isn’t in line for his best-ever Basel result. He is 6-13 this season (Challengers included) and has lost in the first round of a hard-to-believe 10 of 13 tournaments.
Adding insult to injury, the three-time Grand Slam champion has to face Ruud right off the bat on Tuesday. Although it would be even tougher on clay, Ruud has become an outstanding hard-court player. The third-ranked Norwegian finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at both the Miami Masters and the U.S. Open to go along with a semifinal showing in Montreal. Count on Ruud rolling through this one without much trouble.
Pick: Ruud in 2
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Miomir Kecmanovic
Kecmanovic and Davidovich Fokina will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Tuesday. Both of their previous meetings have gone Kecmanovic’s way; he prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the 2018 Ningbo Challenger and 4-1, 4-1, 4-3 at the 2019 NextGen ATP Finals.
The scales once again seemed to be heavily tipped in the Serb’s favor. Davidovich Fokina had a busy and somewhat successful summer, and now he appears to be just going through the motions this fall. His two appearances have resulted in first-round losses to Pavel Kotov (Astana) and Andy Murray (Gijon), both in straight sets. Kecmanovic, on the other hand, reached the Tokyo quarterfinals and the Naples semifinals. Momentum is firmly on his side, so look for him to hand the Spaniard another early loss.
Pick: Kecmanovic in 2
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