Houston R1 previews and predictions: Querrey vs. Opelka, Johnson vs. Young

Tuesday in Houston will have a distinct American flavor as first-round action concludes. Sam Querrey is going up against Reilly Opelka, while Steve Johnson is facing compatriot Donald Young.

(5) Sam Querrey vs. (LL) Reilly Opelka

Querrey and Opelka will be squaring off for the first time in their careers when they clash in round one of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship on Tuesday. Although Querrey enjoyed a February hot stretch with semifinal performances in Memphis and Acapulco in addition to a title in Delray Beach, that is suddenly a thing of the past. The world No. 35 got crushed in his second match at the Indian Wells Masters by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and suffered a bizarre setback at the hands of Adrian Mannarino in Miami.

Opelka is lucky just to be in the main draw. The 6’10” American lost in qualifying but snagged a spot at the proverbial last minute when Dustin Brown withdrew due to a wrist injury on Monday. Opelka beat Dennis Novikov before falling to Matthew Barton in straight sets on Sunday. The 18-year-old has never contested a main-draw match at the ATP level and there is no reason to think he is playing well enough to earn his first such victory at the expense of a far more experienced opponent.

Pick: Querrey in 2

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(6) Steve Johnson vs. Donald Young

Johnson and Young will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers at the ATP level on Tuesday. Both of their previous meetings have gone the way of Johnson, who prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at the 2012 Atlanta event (his first career ATP-level match victory) and 7-5, 6-4 at this same Houston tournament–also in the first round. Young did, though, get the best of his fellow American 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) at the 2013 Aptos Challenger.

Young has not yet won back-to-back matches this season, which is part of the reason why he has slumped to No. 85 in the world. His March was especially disastrous, mainly thanks to Andreas Seppi. Young lost his openers in both Indian Wells and Miami to Seppi to go along with an immediate Irving Challenger setback against Dmitry Tursunov. Johnson is just 5-8 for his 2016 campaign, but he played well in Miami–ousting a red-hot Alexander Zverev before succumbing to Tomas Berdych in three sets. The No. 6 seed should not have too much trouble beating Young for a second straight year in Houston.

Pick: Johnson in 2

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