Stuttgart R1 previews and predictions: Murray vs. Giron, Struff vs. Cobolli

It’s Day 2 of the young grass-court season as first-round action continues in Stuttgart. Andy Murray kicks off his campaign against Marcos Giron, while 2023 runner-up Jan-Lennard Struff faces Flavio Cobolli.

Marcos Giron vs. Andy Murray

Murray has played three tournaments in his comeback from a Miami ankle injury and owns just one win to show for his efforts–via retirement against world No. 219 Kyrian Jacquet in the Bordeaux Challenger. The 37-year-old Scot drew fellow three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in round one of the French Open and lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Up first for Murray at the BOSS Open on Tuesday is a first-ever meeting with Marcos Giron. The 54th-ranked American came out of the gates on fire in 2024 but is now a dreadful 4-11 in his last 15 matches. Giron has always been borderline hopeless on clay, so the move to grass should serve him well. That being said, his 16-14 lifetime record on the surface pales in comparison to Murray’s 138-37 mark. On this surface the former world No. 1 is the one who is more likely to get back on track.

Pick: Murray in 3

[yop_poll id=”1199″]

Flavio Cobolli vs. (7) Jan-Lennard Struff

Struff and Cobolli will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers (second time on the main tour). Both of their previous encounters have gone Struff’s way; 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(2) on the red clay of Parma in 2021 and 6-1, 6-2 on the indoor hard courts of the 2022 Bergamo Challenger.

Cobolli is a much improved player now. The 22-year-old Italian is up to 50th in the rankings thanks mostly to 16 ATP-level match victories already in 2024. However, this is a very tough grass-court matchup for him against an in-form Struff. The 35th-ranked German recently captured his first ATP title in Munich and he finished runner-up at this Stuttgart event last summer. Struff has won 22 grass-court matches in his career; Cobolli has won zero. The No. 7 has every reason to treat his home crowd to a victory on Tuesday.

Pick: Struff in 2

[yop_poll id=”1200″]