Top seed Sebastian Baez will begin his Winston-Salem title defense when he faces Borna Coric during second-round action on Tuesday. No. 11 seed Alex Michelsen is kicking off his week against Marton Fucsovics.
(1) Sebastian Baez vs. Borna Coric
Baez is the top seed and defending champion at the Winston-Salem Open. The 21st-ranked Argentine has won six ATP titles in his career; unsurprisingly, that is the only one that has come on hard courts. Although Baez is a clay-court specialist, last year’s performance at this tournament is proof that he is not entirely hopeless on the hard stuff.
During his 2023 Winston-Salem run, Baez beat Coric 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) in a semifinal thriller. They faced each other just a few days later in round one of the U.S. Open, where Baez cruised 7-5, 7-5, 6-1. Coric will get a chance to avenge those losses when they meet again in Winston-Salem on Tuesday, this time in round two. Unfortunately for the Croat, he is just 11-15 this season (even after beating Sumit Nagal 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday). Coric has not won back-to-back matches in a main draw since Montpellier in early February, so count on Baez staying perfect in this head-to-head series.
Pick: Baez in 2
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Marton Fuscsovics vs. (11) Alex Michelsen
Michelsen and Fucsovics will be squaring off for the first time in their careers on Tuesday. At just 19 years old, Michelsen is up to a career-high of No. 52 in the world and he has earned 19 of his 26 tour-level match victories this season. That includes a recent runner-up effort on the grass of Newport followed by a second-round showing in Cincinnati as a qualifier (lost to Jannik Sinner 6-4, 7-5).
Fucsovics is going in the opposite direction. The 32-year-old Hungarian is a level 12-12 for his 2024 campaign and finds himself at 79th in the rankings, well off his career best of No. 31. Fucsovics did well to scrape past Taro Daniel 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday, but he has not won multiple matches at a single ATP tournament since capturing the Bucharest title at the beginning of the clay-court swing in April. Michelsen should have way too much game for the veteran on a relatively quick hard court.
Pick: Michelsen in 2
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Baez in 2; Mson in 3.