Round one in Halle wraps up with teen sensation Joao Fonseca battling Flavio Cobolli and Ugo Humbert taking on Denis Shapovalov. Humbert is the No. 6 seed, while Fonseca got in with a wild card.
(WC) Joao Fonseca vs. Flavio Cobolli
Joao Fonseca, the wildly popular Brazilian, has an ATP title on clay and a Challenger title on hard courts already this season. The 18-year-old is one of the most promising teens on the men’s tour; but what he does not have is a match win on grass on the main tour–not a single one. The Buenos Aires champion’s only other main-draw match on grass was a year ago in Halle against James Duckworth, which he lost 6-4, 6-4. Whether he is able to transform his game to the lawns remains to be seen.
Flavio Cobolli is ranked a career-high 24th in the world. That is thanks in part to a pair of clay-court titles he won earlier this season (Bucharest and Hamburg). The Italian has traditionally been much better on clay than any other surface, but he’ll have the benefit of playing an opponent with next to no experience playing on grass courts.
Cheryl pick: Cobolli in 2
Ricky pick: Cobolli in 3
(6) Ugo Humbert vs. Denis Shapovalov
France’s Ugo Humbert is one of those players whose game translates beautifully to grass. He was a semifinalist last week in s’Hertogenbosch, losing to eventual champion Gabriel Diallo. The Frenchman is a former Halle champion, having won the event back in 2021. Following the season of his career in 2024, Humbert is poised to have a great run for the brief grass-court season. Good news for the left-hander is not so great for his Canadian opponent on Tuesday.
Denis Shapovalov is a long way off the form he enjoyed on his run to the title in Dallas this February. The world No. 31 has barely managed to win more than a single match a time since he arrived in Europe following the Miami Masters. That includes a rough first-round loss at the hands of Arthur Rinderknech in Stuttgart last week. Humbert may show signs of fatigue as the week wears on, but not yet.
Cheryl pick: Humbert in 2
Ricky pick: Humbert in 2
WWW?
Experience counts for nothing in the Fonseca-Cobolli match, Cobolli has barely played any grass matches too and not fared well, this is a total mismatach any way you slice it, Fonseca to blast Cobolli off the court with his far superior talent and abilities, is a nice fav. too, Fonseca in 2.
welp
Credit where credit is due, nice pick.
Cobolli also w/d from last week’s event so health is in question.
An all lefty matchup in Shapo-Humbert, they’ve met 5 times with Shapo winning all 3 clay meetings and Humbert taking the 2 slow HC ones, so this will be the first meeting on a fast non-clay or HC, they are pretty even on on the grass,though Humbert might have a slight edge, Shapo will look to bounce back from his 3rd set bagel last week to Rinderknech, which is the worst final set he’s played this year, Humbert played some ok tennis last week beating guys he should beat on grass and looks to be recovered from whatever was ailing him in Rome and RG, Humbert is the slight fav. here, Humbert in 3.
The Fonz in 3; Humbert in 2.
ouch!
Shapo in 3.
It was Humbert in three above :).
Which I had as well, couldnt pick Shapo , he’s too unpredictable