Round one continues at the Madrid Masters on Thursday with young American Alex Michelsen taking on fellow rising star Joao Fonseca and Czech teen Jakub Mensik facing German veteran Yannick Hanfmann.
Alex Michelsen vs. (WC) Joao Fonseca
This battle of the youngsters will be one to keep an eye on. American Alex Michelsen turned pro last year at age 18 with reasonable success. Michelson is ranked 70th in the world. The American won two matches at the Australian Open and also had good success in Los Cabos, where he made the quarterfinals. Michelsen played a couple clay events already this year, including a showing last week in Munich.
Joao Fonseca has already made plenty of waves in the tennis community–he just did them in juniors last season. He put in three quarterfinal showings at the Grand Slam junior events before sweeping to the title at the U.S. Open. The 17-year-old got to the final at a Challenger event earlier this season, and he made the quarters in Bucharest last week.
If you want to watch the potential future of tennis, this is a good place to start. Fonseca is ranked 242nd in the world–much lower than Michelsen–but in this case his star is emphatically on the rise. Don’t be surprised if the Brazilian snags the “upset.”
Cheryl pick: Fonseca in 3
Ricky pick: Fonseca in 2
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Jakub Mensik vs. Jannick Hanfmann
Czechia’s Jakub Mensik is looking to recapture the magic that saw the teen to the final of the event in Dona (where he beat Andrey Rublev along the way). Since then, however, Mensik has had a series of three second-round losses. He is ranked No. 74 in the world, and while he has proven what he’s capable of, he hasn’t made much noise on clay. His run in Doha was on hard courts.
Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann is on the the other side of 30. The world No. 58 hasn’t had a fantastic start to the season, with a ranking low enough that he was forced to qualify for the Monte-Carlo Masters. He was successful in doing so but promptly lost in the first round to Arthur Fils. What the German has going for him is that he is better on clay than his opponent. And while it’s true that the clay in Madrid is not as typically clay as, say, Monte-Carlo, it’s still dirt–and that’s an advantage for Hanfmann regardless of his current form.
Cheryl pick: Mensik in 3
Ricky pick: Hanfmann in 2
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WWW?
Hanfman plays well at altitude Madrid maybe better than MC for him
Big Al: my virus protection program hates the bracket challenge. I wonder if you had similar issues, living in Europe too?
No, I can use it on either pc or mobile .
It doesn’t stop me, just warns me site isn’t secure.
Getting the Chinese players straight has become difficult. If you noticed, there are (2) X. Wang in the draw: One is Xiyu, and the other is Xinyu. This attempt to suss out who is who from China started last fall. But I made a new list while picking Stuttgart.
This effort will NOT help me win a WTA bracket, but I do it out of curiosity, with my hero, Li Na, in mind. Here are my notes pre-Madrid.
China #1 Qinwen Zhang (ofc) rank #7. She is the star at age 20!
China #2 Yue Yuan rank #36. Age 25 rank rising
China #3 Xinyu Wang rank #41 age 23 rank rising
China #4 Xiyu Wang rank #53 age 23 rank rising
#5 Lin Zhu rank #56 age 30 rank dropping
#6 Yafan Wang rank #67 age29 rank dropping
Damn! I was following up on the above post, and now, here is the original post from the Saba thread.
But my new post is gone!
WTF, Ricky? Should I only post on the non-tennis forum when discussing WTA, or is the old WTA page a better place?
there is a WTA Madrid article!
I got a warning once, Margot, but I have not had one since.
However, I lost posts here both times because I was giving details and taking time.
The other lost post addressed your comment about the post that shows up here. Chinese top 5.
Ricky, Where? is the Saba page?
The warning I got was on the TDC not here
Ricky
Where?
Wouldn’t it be under Madrid match previews?
I hope you don’t bounce off posts or have a timer on my writing. If so, I won’t linger here when posting. Wow, how many minutes before the post disappears? thank-you.
Margot, The post I wrote to you is nowhere.
But I remember it was during the Cristea and Kudermetova matches, and I was watching Flashcore live; their names were new to me. Cristea was playing an 18-year-old from the Philippines, and finally, Sorana won in three sets. Veronica Kudermetova lost in two sets to Maria Louisa Carle; she was not so young, at 24, but I hadn’t known of her ever.
Alexandre Eala, 18, from the Philipines.
Maria Louila ? I forgot her rank, and her age is 24; she is from Argentina.
My good man Carballes Baena. Always gives 110%
Koepfer should improve and could push to 3.
Carballes Baena was best bet of the day. An all-in bet.
Never in doubt. 😉
I went for Bublik ,wacky pick on clay but glad I did now ,