Rio de Janeiro R2 previews and predictions: Sonego vs. Kecmanovic, Berrettini vs. Monteiro

Familiar foes Lorenzo Sonego and Miomir Kecmanovic will meet again during second-round action at the Rio de Janeiro 500 on Thursday. Meanwhile, top seed Matteo Berrettini is kicking off his week against Thiago Monteiro.

(6) Lorenzo Sonego vs. (Q) Miomir Kecmanovic

Sonego and Kecmanovic will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers and for the second time already this season when they battle for a semifinal spot at the Rio Open on Thursday evening. The head-to-head series on the main tour is tied up at 1-1, with Sonego leading 3-2 overall (2-1 on clay). They just faced each other in round three of the Australian Open, where Kecmanovic prevailed 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-2, 7-5.

A switch from hard courts to clay should not make much of a difference, as both guys are all-court players (one of their meetings was in the 2019 Antalya final on grass, for example). Sonego opened in Rio de Janeiro with a 6-2, 6-0 rout of Laslo Djere, while Kecmanovic crushed Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves 6-3, 6-0. The in-form 22-year-old from Serbia is no stranger to the Golden Swing and he should have a good chance of beating Sonego for the second time in 2022.

Pick: Kecmanovic in 3

(1) Matteo Berrettini vs. (WC) Thiago Monteiro

Berrettini is making his first-ever appearance on the Golden Swing, which makes some sense given his recent success on clay. Three of his five titles and five of his eight finals hame come on the red stuff, including a runner-up performance at the Madrid Masters last spring. Berrettini made a run to the French Open quarterfinals shortly thereafter, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in a tight four-setter.

Of course, the sixth-ranked Italian is far from a clay-court specialist; his best results have come at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. It won’t be easy, but Monteiro can be competitive in front of the home crowd as the Rio second round wraps up on Thursday night. The 27-year-old Brazilian is coming off a stellar 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over up-and-coming Argentine Sebastian Baez on Tuesday. Monteiro’s lone top-10 win of his career has come at this same Rio event, but that was against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga–not a clay-courter–six years ago. The top players in the world are generally too good for the left-hander, and that will likely be the case with Berrettini.

Pick: Berrettini in 3