Stefanos Tsitsipas will try to keep his hot streak going when he takes the court against Evgeny Donskoy on Tuesday in Madrid. First-round action is also wrapping up with a showdown between Pablo Carreno Busta and Borna Coric.
(9) Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Borna Coric
Carreno Busta and Coric will be squaring off for the third time in their careers when they clash in round one of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. They have split two previous hard-court encounters; Carreno Busta cruised 6-4, 6-3 at the 2015 Auckland event long before Coric survived a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(8) thriller earlier this season in Doha. The 11th-ranked Spaniard’s 2018 campaign has since picked up steam with a fourth-round performance in Indian Wells and consecutive semifinal appearances in Miami, Barcelona, and Estoril.
At No. 35 in the world and with quarterfinal points to defend in Madrid, Coric could really use a big week as he bids for a seed at the French Open. The 21-year-old Croat caught fire in Indian Wells (semifinals) and Miami (quarterfinals), but he has since suffered losses to Mikhail Kukushkin (on clay and at home in Croatia) and to Novak Djokovic (Monte-Carlo). Based on current form, home-court advantage, and the surface, Carreno Busta should have the edge in this one.
Pick: Carreno Busta in 2
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(Q) Evgeny Donskoy vs. (WC) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas’ season was already a good one even before this clay-court swing, with quarterfinal performances in both Doha and Dubai. But the 19-year-old Greek has taken things to a whole different level on the slow stuff, as his breakout spring already includes a second-round performance in Monte-Carlo as a qualifier, a runner-up finish in Barcelona (lost to Rafael Nadal), and a semifinal showing in Estoril. Fourteen of his 18 career ATP-level match wins have come in 2018, propelling him to a best-ever ranking of No. 40 in the world.
Up first for Tsitsipas in Madrid is a first-ever meeting with Donskoy, who has already done well to qualify for the main draw–a feat he accomplished by beating Stefano Travaglia and Pierre-Hugues Herbert (the latter in a third-set tiebreaker). The 90th-ranked Russian is a decent 8-10 at the ATP level this year, but his clay-court swing features nothing more than a 2-2 record on the Challenger circuit with setbacks against opponents ranked 130th (Calvin Hemery) and 336th (Yibing Wu). This should be one-way traffic for a red-hot Tsitsipas.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 2
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