Miami R1 previews and predictions: Musetti vs. Mmoh, Kokkinakis vs. Mochizuki

Lorenzo Musetti will try to maintain his fine form when he kicks off his Miami campaign against wild card Michael Mmoh on Thursday. Qualifiers Thanasi Kokkinakis and Shintaro Mochizuki are also in action.

(WC) Michael Mmoh vs. Lorenzo Musetti

Musetti has been one of the breakout stars on tour dating back to last fall. His arrival on the main tour featured a third-round run as a qualifier at the 2020 Rome Masters before he reached the semifinals of a 250 event in Sardinia. Heading into the Miami Open, Musetti is coming off the best result of his young career. Last week in Acapulco he advanced to the semifinals, earning his first top-10 win over Diego Schwartzman in the process. That performance propelled the 19-year-old into the top 100 (No. 94) for the first time.

Up first for the Italian on Thursday in Miami is Mmoh, whom he has never faced. Mmoh is toiling away at 181st in the rankings with a 1-3 record on the main tour this season. He played well at the Australian Open but has also suffered first-round losses in Melbourne (to Marcos Giron) and Singapore (to Yoshihito Nishioka). The American has no momentum whatsoever compared to Musetti, so this should be straightforward.

Pick: Musetti in 2

(Q) Shintaro Mochizuki vs. (Q) Thanasi Kokkinakis

It will also be a first-ever meeting between Kokkinakis and Mochizuki on Thursday. Both players qualified for the Miami man draw; Kokkinakis took care of Frederico Ferreira Silva and Mario Vilella Martinez, while Mochizuki got a retirement from Daniel Altmaier and then defeated Emilio Gomez.

That is just about where the similarities end. When healthy, as he is right now, Kokkinakis is a proven top-50 kind of talent on tour–and that’s probably a conservative estimate. The Aussie’s best-ever match result has come at none other than this Miami tournament, where he upset Roger Federer in 2018. Mochizuki, on the other hand, is just 17 years old and has never won a main-draw match on the main tour (0-1 lifetime). The 2019 junior Wimbledon champion’s first attempt came a few weeks ago in Singapore, where he succumbed to Altug Celikbilek 6-0, 6-4. All signs point to this being a beatdown in Kokkinakis’ favor.

Pick: Kokkinakis in 2