A jam-packed lineup of second-round competition in Dubai is headlined by Daniil Medvedev vs. Stan Wawrinka. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard are also taking the court on Wednesday.
(1) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (Q) Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Auger-Aliassime and Mpetshi Perricard will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers when they battle for a quarterfinal spot at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday. The head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in Auger-Aliassime’s favor after he easily defeated Mpetshi Perricard twice in 2025 — 6-2, 6-4 on the red clay of Hamburg and 6-4, 6-4 on the grass of Stuttgart.
Although the margins are rarely that big against Mpetshi Perricard given the strength of his serve, Auger-Aliassime should once again have a significant upper hand. The eighth-ranked Canadian is 10-3 this season with a title in Montpellier and a runner-up performance in Rotterdam. His fine form continued with a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over Zhizhen Zhang on Monday. Mpetshi Perricard’s recent struggles continued in a way-too-difficult 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(4) defeat of Tunisian wild card Moez Echargui. Barring one of the Frenchman’s best serving performances ever, this will likely be one-way traffic for Auger-Aliassime.
Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 2
(3) Daniil Medvedev vs. (WC) Stan Wawrinka
Wawrinka’s final season on tour is off to a respectable start. This is the 40-year-old Swiss’ fourth tournament of 2026 and he has not yet lost a first-round match. Wawrinka’s 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Benjamin Hassan on Monday was his sixth match victory of the year and he also has a flurry of extremely competitive losses against much higher-ranked opponents.
Another such foe will be on the other side of the net in Dubai, where Medvedev takes a 3-2 head-to-head record into Wednesday’s showdown. They have squared off only once since 2022, as the 11th-ranked Russian prevailed 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-1 last February in Rotterdam. Although Medvedev is still kind of all over the place these days, a 10-3 record so far this season is reason for encouragement. Getting a ton of balls back in play should be enough for the No. 3 seed to have the physical edge over Wawrinka.
Pick: Medvedev in 2
WWW?
FAA and Med in two
MPP isnt much more than a serve ,really
So Shang was easy for Meddy after all and yeah Shang can’t hang with him physically, Meddy busting his lungs with long rallies, not being fit enough has always been an issue for Shang, however a resurgent Stan will be another story, the vet is ready for Meddy and won’t physically go away so easily like Shang did, Meddy’s didn’t really gain much if any confidence from Shang since it was so easy for him, so expect Stan to at least make this close, Medvdedev in 3, 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3.
The margins for GMP indeed might be big, if his serve is even a little off chances are very high we will lose the match, it all depends on him serving well in every match to give himself a chance to win and it’s not the most sustainable way to make a living on tour, so don’t be surprised if he’s off the tour sooner rather than later, is he is even a little bit not confident in it as we can see, he can lose every match he plays already having gone through a 5 match losing streak to start the year, chances are in this match he’s not confident enough to beat another confidence player who’s riding high, FAA in 2, 6-3, 6-4.
Result: Medvedev 6-2, 6-3.
Another good match from him.
Result FAA 6-4, 6-4.