R1 previews and picks: Pospisil vs. Hewitt, Tomic vs. Sock

October 15, 2013 Ricky Match previews, Predictions 0

Vasek Pospisil and Lleyton Hewitt will square off in a marquee first-rounder on Tuesday in Vienna. In Stockholm, a battle of young guns pits Bernard Tomic against Jack Sock.

Lleyton Hewitt vs. (7) Vasek Pospisil

Hewitt and Pospisil will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they collide in round one of the Erste Bank Open on Tuesday. Their only previous encounter came last summer on the grass courts of Newport, where Hewitt cruised 6-1, 6-1. Pospisil, of course, is a much different player now. The 23-year-old Canadian is up to No. 40 in the world on the strength of a semifinal showing at the Montreal Masters. After a series of brutal losses, Pospisil upset Richard Gasquet last week in Shanghai before bowing out to Gael Monfils.

Like his opponent, Hewitt also had one notable hard-court performance this summer–a fourth-round finish at the U.S. Open. The 32-year-old Australian’s Asian swing was dismal, resulting in a second-round blowout loss to Fabio Fognini in Beijing and a straight-set setback against Andreas Seppi in Shanghai. This will be a classic battle of offense vs. defense and new generation vs. old generation. Hewitt knows how to handle big hitters on fast surfaces, and both his retrieval skills and his mental prowess in pressure moments should be the difference in what is sure to be a close contest.

Pick: Hewitt in 3

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Jack Sock vs. Bernard Tomic

Sock and Tomic will be facing each other for the first time in their careers on Tuesday at the If Stockholm Open. Both players are wrapping up relatively unspectacular seasons. Sock owns nine of his 15 career ATP-level match wins in 2013, but he has not taken an expected leap and he registers 19 spots off his career-high ranking at No. 97 in the world. The 21-year-old American failed to qualify in both Beijing and Shanghai.

One year Sock’s junior, Tomic owns a 25-19 record for his 2013 campaign. The world No. 52’s best work came early in the season during the Australian summer, but he has cooled off of late. Tomic advanced round at the U.S. Open, in Bangkok, and in Beijing before losing his Shanghai opener to Jeremy Chardy. The bad news for the Aussie is that this will be contested on an indoor hard court against a big-hitting opponent. The good news for him is that his ability to block back pace and his variety of quirkiness should eventually get the best of a more one-dimensional Sock.

Pick: Tomic in 3

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22 Comments on R1 previews and picks: Pospisil vs. Hewitt, Tomic vs. Sock

  13. Popsi held up well under pressure particularly when he was down in the tie-break. Hewitt not surprisingly looked a bit shocked by the result.

    Reply

  16. Ricky

    I actually watched the second set of the match when the tennis channel replayed it. I don’t know what was going on with Tomic, but he just wasn’t playing. At one point he was not even moving. The commies said that he must be carrying an injury, that this was the only explanation. Sock went up 5-0 and then Tomic seemed to wake up and broke him and then held to make it 5-2. But Sock managed to serve it out.

    Tomic was playing much better in the first set. I have no idea what was going on with him in that second set. But he was just not playing like himself. So I can’t say that Sock played extremely well in the second set, because he didn’t have to do that much.

    Reply

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