In a bottom half of the Cincinnati draw that is completely wide open, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Miomir Kecmanovic will clash in a blockbuster first-round battle on Monday. Nick Kyrgios and Lorenzo Sonego are also in action.
(Q) Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
True fans of the game know Auger-Aliassime vs. Kecmanovic is, on paper, probably the best first-round matchup of the entire Western & Southern Open first round. They may not be as famous as Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov (yet), but it will likely be more competitive. And it won’t make as many headlines as Andy Murray’s comeback against Richard Gasquet, but chances are good that it will produce higher-quality tennis. Both 19-year-olds have soared into prominence in 2019; obviously Auger-Aliassime to an even greater extent, but Kecmanovic is not too far behind.
It has already been a productive stay in Cincinnati for Kecmanovic, who qualified for the main draw with victories over Antoine Hoang and Feliciano Lopez. The 58th-ranked Serb has earned all 16 of his lifetime ATP-level match wins in 2019, which includes a runner-up performance in Antalya. Auger-Aliassime is already up to No. 21 in the world thanks to an incredible 31 ATP-level victories (previously had six in his career) and three trips to finals. The Canadian has cooled off slightly since a brilliant spring and grass-court summer, but he still has not lost in the first round (or even the second round) of any event since the Rome Masters. Moreover, Kecmanovic has never defeated anyone in the top 30.
Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 3
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Nick Kyrgios vs. Lorenzo Sonego
Kyrgios and Sonego will also be going head-to-head on the main tour for the first time in their careers on Monday. As usual, it has been a roller-coaster summer for Kyrgios. He was inspired at Wimbledon (lost to Rafael Nadal in a thrilling second-round showdown) and in Washington, D.C. (won the title) but has also made plenty of headlines for the wrong reasons while suffering several disappointing losses. The mercurial Australian at least will be well-rested for Cincinnati after falling right away in Montreal to Kyle Edmund.
Sonego has played sparingly on hard courts this season, but his results on both clay and grass suggest that he is an all-court player. The 47th-ranked Italian beat Kecmanovic for his first-ever ATP title on the grass of Antalya and he is coming off a semifinal showing on the red clay of Kitzbuhel. Sonego certainly has the talent to make this competitive and Kyrgios may not be focused from start to finish in a first-rounder against a relatively little-known opponent. But a possible meeting with Novak Djokovic looms in the quarterfinals and the world No. 27 should be able to remember that in time to scrape past Sonego.
Pick: Kyrgios in 3
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WWW?
Kec in 3; Kyrios in 2.
@Scoot, you called it almost correctly. FAA meekly lost in two 🙁
As all the other young guns he’s still too unstable in those every-day bread-and-butter matches. The young guys often rise to the occasion for big matches, but they often fail to show up when they face lesser opponents in the early rounds…
And I saw some stats which show that those young guys who have been more successful than others, have already accumulated a lot of matches at this time of the year, and they may be a bit overplayed.
FAA in 3, Sonego in 3. Although for ONCE I’d really love to see NK get far enough to play Djoker in the quarters and get his comeuppance. Not sure NK is motivated enough to put his money where his mouth is.