Cincinnati R1 previews and predictions: Murray vs. Gasquet, McDonald vs. Nakashima

Fellow veterans Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet are set for a first-round matchup at the Cincinnati Masters on Monday. Meanwhile, American wild cards Brandon Nakashima Mackenzie McDonald are battling for the right to play top seed Daniil Medvedev in round two.

(Q) Richard Gasquet vs. (WC) Andy Murray

Murray and Gasquet will be facing each other for the 13th time in their careers when they clash in round one of the Western & Southern Open on Monday night. Interestingly, their most recent encounter also came in the same round of this same event two years ago–with Gasquet getting the job done 6-4, 6-4. Murray still leads the head-to-head series 8-4, which includes a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory in the 2015 Cincinnati quarterfinals.

Gasquet is in decent enough form at 35 years old, ranked 53rd in the world and coming off a runner-up performance on the red clay of Umag. He qualified to get into the Cincinnati main draw, outlasting Jaume Munar 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 after two hours and 38 minutes. Two matches under his belt could help the Frenchman get off to a strong start, but Murray–when healthy–is the superior player in general. Obviously this all depends on how the 34-year-old Scot is feeling, but his movement on grass looked good and by all accounts recent practices have been going well. Look for Murray to be tougher than Gasquet in the pressure-packed moments of this match.

Pick: Murray in 3

(WC) Brandon Nakashima vs. (WC) Mackenzie McDonald

It has been a wildly successful U.S. Open Series for American men so far, and a lot of that has to do with McDonald and Nakashima–both of whom received well-deserved wild cards into Cincinnati. Nakashima announced himself on tour in recent weeks with back-to-back final appearances in Los Cabos (lost to Cameron Norrie) and Atlanta (lost to John Isner). McDonald made a run to the Washington, D.C. title match before falling to Jannik Sinner.

They will go head-to-head on Monday night for the second time in their careers. Their only previous meeting came last year at the Orlando Challenger, where Nakashima prevailed 6-3, 7-6(8). Although McDonald has not won a ton of matches at Masters 1000s, the 26-year-old has a vast history of qualifying for main draws at such tournaments and he reached the Cincinnati second round as a qualifier last summer. With a winless record (0-3) in Masters 1000 qualies, the 20-year-old Nakashima has never played in a main draw at this level. This is pretty much a coin flip between two in-form countrymen, but McDonald’s edge in experience could make just enough of a difference.

Pick: McDonald in 3