Winston-Salem R2 previews and predictions: Edmund vs. Mayer, Simon vs. Harrison

Kyle Edmund and Gilles Simon will kick off their Winston-Salem campaigns on Tuesday following first-round byes. Edmund may have his hands full with Leonardo Mayer, while Simon is going up against Ryan Harrison.

Leonardo Mayer vs. (3) Kyle Edmund

Edmund and Mayer will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they clash in round two of the Winston-Salem Open on Tuesday. It has been a stellar late-summer run for Mayer, who finished runner-up on the red clay of Hamburg before reaching the Cincinnati third round (lost to eventual finalist Roger Federer). The 41st-ranked Argentine maintained his fine form by beating Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 7-6(4) on Monday in Winston-Salem.

Whereas Mayer is riding a wave of momentum, Edmund has slumped since losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon third round. The 16th-ranked Brit fell right away in Washington, D.C. (to Andy Murray) and Toronto (to Diego Schwartzman) before dropping his second match in Cincinnati at the hands of Denis Shapovalov. Thus he accepted a late wild card into Winston-Salem, searching for match practice in advance of the upcoming U.S. Open. But this is a tough second-rounder for Edmund, as Mayer is playing extremely well and already has a match under his belt this week.

Pick: Mayer in 3

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(12) Gilles Simon vs. Ryan Harrison

Like Edmund vs. Mayer, this is a contest in which the unseeded player boasts a clear edge in current form. Harrison generally plays some of his best tennis this time of year and he got the hard-court summer started with a runner-up performance in Atlanta. The 56th-ranked American successfully qualified in Toronto, reached the second round at that Masters 1000 tournament, and he improved to a decent 20-18 at the ATP level in 2018 with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over wild card Borna Gojo on Monday night.

Simon, on the other hand, has not yet played a hard-court match this summer. The 39th-ranked Frenchman returned to clay after succumbing to Juan Martin Del Potro in the Wimbledon third round and he lost his opening matches in both Hamburg and Kitzbuhel. Not even Simon’s 3-0 lifetime record against Harrison suggests he will be able to turn things around and pick up a win on Tuesday. After all, they have not faced each other since 2012 and it is the 26-year-old who is playing far better tennis at the moment.

Pick: Harrison in 2

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