An intriguing first-round affair in Montpellier on Tuesday pits Jannik Sinner against fellow up-and-comer Mikael Ymer. Meanwhile, Felix Auger-Aliassime is kicking off his campaign against Damir Dzumhur.
Jannik Sinner vs. Mikael Ymer
Sinner and Ymer will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they clash in round two of the Open Sud de France on Tuesday. Their only previous meeting came this past fall on the indoor hard courts of the NextGen ATP Finals, where Sinner dominated 4-0, 4-2, 4-1 in the abbreviated-set format. This one should be more competitive, as Ymer is in stellar form right now. The 76th-ranked Swede qualified in both Doha and Auckland (reached the second round) before advancing one round at the Australian Open and pushing Karen Khachanov to a fifth-set tiebreaker.
Despite actually being ranked two spots lower than his opponent, Sinner remains the obvious favorite due to his strong finish to 2019. The 18-year-old Italian won the NextGen ATP Finals and then triumphed at a Challenger event in Ortisei without dropping a set. Sinner also reached the Aussie Open second round before succumbing to Marton Fucsovics. Ymer might take this on clay or a slow hard court, but Sinner’s power game indoors should once again make the difference.
Pick: Sinner in 3
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(5) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (Q) Damir Dzumhur
Auger-Aliassime ended last season in crisis mode and he is not showing any real signs of snapping out of it anytime soon. The 21st-ranked Canadian at least won two matches in Doha and extended Andrey Rublev to a third-set tiebreaker, but he has otherwise been a disaster. A 1-3 record at the ATP Cup saw him beat no one other than world No. 487 Michail Pervolarakis and he is coming off an Australian Open first-round loss to world No. 255 Ernests Gulbis.
Dzumhur, who won their only previous meeting in three sets at the 2017 Blois Challenger, already has two matches under his belt in Montpellier having qualified for the main draw. The 27-year-old from Bosnia and Herzegovina lost a competitive four-setter against Stan Wawrinka during first-round action in Melbourne. Two of Dzumhur’s three ATP titles have come at 250-point indoor events, so this is a recipe for another upset loss for Auger-Aliassime.
Pick: Dzumhur in 3
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Sinner and FAA, both in 2.
Ymer in 2; Zoom in 2.