Metz R2 previews and predictions: Murray vs. Pospisil, Sonego vs. Rune

Familiar foes Andy Murray and Vasek Pospisil will meet again when Metz action moves into the second round on Wednesday. Lorenzo Sonego and Holger Rune are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals of this indoor 250 event.

Vasek Pospisil vs. (WC) Andy Murray

Understandably, Murray’s latest comeback from hip issues has been all over the place. At times he shows signs of encouragement, but on other occasions he suffers terrible losses. One of the latter unfortunately came last week at the Rennes Challenger, where he fell to world No. 158 Roman Safiullin 6-1 in the third set. Fast forward one week and things are suddenly looking up again for the 34-year-old Scot, who earned his biggest win of 2021 rankings-wise with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Ugo Humbert at the Moselle Open on Tuesday. Murray is now an even 7-7 at the ATP level this season.

Up next for the three-time Grand Slam champion on Wednesday is a sixth career contest against Pospisil, who trails the head-to-head series 4-1. Murray has taken each of their two previous indoor encounters in routine straight sets. Pospisil has also dealt with his fair share of injuries and he is just 7-11 on the main tour in 2021 following a 6-3, 6-4 win over Gregoire Barrere on Monday. Although you never know what you are going to get from Murray on any given day, he has always feasted on relatively one-dimensional big servers so this should once again be a favorable matchup for him.

Pick: Murray in 2

(5) Lorenzo Sonego vs. (Q) Holger Rune

It has already been a successful week at the office for Rune. That the 18-year-old Dane has qualified for the main draw and advanced to round two is especially impressive given how little he has played on any surface other than clay. In fact, the U.S. Open (qualified and then lost to Novak Djokovic) had been his only tournament off clay since the end of February. Rune could not have advanced in any easier fashion on Tuesday, as he humiliated lucky loser Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-0, 6-0.

Things should get a lot tougher in the form of Sonego, whose 2020 fall swing included a fun to the final on the indoor hard courts of Vienna–where he upset Djokovic in the process. The 24th-ranked Italian is 25-18 this year following a 6-3, 6-2 rout of Marton Fucsovics on Monday. Based mostly on the surface, Sonego will likely have too much game for the youngster.

Pick: Sonego in 2