Top two seeds Ben Shelton and Francisco Cerundolo will kick off their Houston campaigns during second-round action on Wednesday. Shelton opens with Zizou Bergs, while Cerundolo faces Luciano Darderi.
Luciano Darderi vs. (2) Francisco Cerundolo
Cerundolo figured to be one of the top players on the Golden Swing in February. Instead, the clay-court grind in South America proved to be Darderi’s coming out party on tour. The 22-year-old Argentine captured his first career ATP title as a qualifier in Cordoba before reaching the quarterfinals in Santiago. Darderi skipped the Indian Wells Masters but played in Miami, losing right away to Denis Shapovalov in a tight three-setter.
The Golden Swing was a struggle for Cerundolo, who won only three total matches in three tournaments. However, the 23rd-ranked Argentine finally started to turn his season around–albeit slightly–in Indian Wells and Miami. He won a match at each Masters 1000 event and both of his losses came in third-set tiebreakers at the hands of Ben Shelton and Karen Khachanov. Cerundolo’s confidence has been restored following a two-month slump, so he should have the upper hand in what will likely be a high-quality clay-court battle.
Pick: Cerundolo in 3
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(1) Ben Shelton vs. Zizou Bergs
Shelton and Bergs will also be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Wednesday. It would be an understatement to say that Shelton–despite being far more dangerous on faster surfaces–committed to learning how to play on clay in 2023. The 16th-ranked American played a ridiculous eight events on the spring clay-court spring (yes, for those counting that is every single week). Shelton did not do much of anything aside from a semifinal showing in Cagliari, but he was competitive in basically all of his losses and the simple experience of playing on the dirt should serve him well in 2024.
Exactly 100 of Bergs’ 265 professional match victories have come on clay, including a 7-6(5), 6-3 defeat of Patrick Kypson on Monday. Any ATP-level win the 24-year-old Belgian can get is important, as he has spent almost his entire career at the Futures and Challenger levels. His lifetime record on the main tour is 9-21. Still, with a match already under his belt in Houston and a history of clay-court prowess, Bergs could give Shelton a serious test.
Pick: Shelton in 3
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