Queen’s Club R1 previews and predictions: Alcaraz vs. Cerundolo, De Minaur vs. Musetti

Top two seeds Carlos Alcaraz and Alex de Minaur are coming off titles and will begin their Queen’s Club campaigns on Tuesday. Alcaraz opens with Francisco Cerundolo, while De Minaur is going up against Lorenzo Musetti.

(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. Francisco Cerundolo

Alcaraz will be taking the court as a French Open champion for the first time when he plays at the Cinch Championships on Tuesday afternoon. The second-ranked Spaniard triumphed at Roland Garros a couple of weeks ago, winning five-setters against Jannik Sinner in the semifinals and Alexander Zverev in the final. Alcaraz is now set to defend his 2023 title at Queen’s Club, where he won 10 of 11 total sets and beat Grigor Dimitrov, Sebastian Korda, and Alex de Minaur along the way.

Up first for the top seed is a second meeting with Cerundolo, who lost their only previous encounter five years ago via a 6-2, 6-4 decision on the clay courts of the Palmanova Challenger. The 26th-ranked Argentine made plenty of noise in his own right at Roland Garros, pushed Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller with a place in the quarterfinals on the line. Cerundolo can be dangerous on grass, too. He defeated Tommy Paul at Queen’s Club last summer and then won the Eastbourne title a week later. This is not an easy opening match, but Alcaraz is brimming with confidence and should be able to advance.

Pick: Alcaraz in 2

Lorenzo Musetti vs. (2) Alex de Minaur

The grass-court swing could not have started any better for De Minaur. This past week in ‘s-Hertogenbosch he rolled to an eighth ATP title without losing a set, and only Ugo Humbert in the semifinals managed to force a single tiebreaker. De Minaur is now an awesome 33-11 for the season and up to a career-high ranking of No. 7 in the world.

On Tuesday the 25-year-old will try to maintain momentum at the expense of Musetti. They are also squaring off for the second time, with De Minaur having prevailed 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 at the 2022 Australian Open. Although Musetti is an all-court player, he is definitely at his best on clay; grass would be the last surface on which he would choose to contest this particular matchup. The 30th-ranked Italian played well last week in Stuttgart, reaching the semis before falling to Matteo Berrettini 6-4, 6-0. Musetti doesn’t have the benefit of much rest, either, and on this surface De Minaur will likely be way too tough.

Pick: De Minaur in 2