The ATP’s BMW Open tournament in Munich is a 28-player field, so there is no round of 32, merely a first round which is a prelude to the round of 16. That’s where we’ll start our tennis picks.
Taking a look back at what transpired on Monday, it was an interesting day of action. There were just four men’s matches on the card. Jan-Lennard Struff had an easy time of things with Daniel Masur. Struff won the match 6-4, 6-3. We also saw Thomaz Bellucci advance in straight sets. Mikhail Kukushkin was only able to take five games off of him in total. The other two matches required the full three sets to come to a decision. That included Tommy Haas, who dropped the first set, but won the final two to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Lastly, we saw Yannick Hanfmann get the job done. He won the first and third sets over Gerald Melzer to advance.
Looking ahead to Tuesday, the top four seeds get byes into the round of 16, which means the first round is spread out over multiple days. As players participate in the final warm-up tournament before the Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome, which ones will begin to make a statement about their readiness to create a highly successful clay-court swing? Here is a look at our tennis picks for the day.
Casper Ruud vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber
There is a fascinating tension at work in this match. Ruud has struggled in recent weeks, while Kohlschreiber has also gone through frustrating periods of play. Yet, these frustrations are very different. Ruud is going through the process of learning how to perform as a young player. He had a strong South American clay swing in February but has since cooled off. Kohlschreiber is going through the agony of continuing to fail to win close matches against quality players. His loss in the Marrakech final to Borna Coric is probably still eating at him. Ruud knows he has his future in front of him, while Kohlschreiber is in that place where he’s lamenting a career full of blown chances. Which player will regroup? In many instances, Ruud would be the pick, but this is Munich, a tournament where Kohlschreiber has done very well. It’s one of his best and most consistent tour stops. The specific circumstances point to a Kohlschreiber victory. Take him with your tennis picks.
Pick: Kohlschreiber in straight sets
Dustin Brown vs. Mischa Zverev
This should be a very entertaining match, because both Brown and Zverev love to attack the net and play all-court tennis. These are not guys who roll the ball back and hit basic rally balls from the baseline. They go for their shots, they want to shorten points, they attempt to crash the net, they don’t waste a lot of time in the conventional baseline-hugging style of tennis which has become the standard for the ATP these days. These are different kinds of players who don’t bash groundstrokes endlessly. They want to find the quickest way to win a point. Zverev has been mediocre ever since his Australian Open quarterfinal run this year, but he’s still better than Brown, a player who has been constantly affected by injuries and is simply not rewarded by clay for the kinds of things he wants to do on a tennis court. Brown is at his best on grass, and clay is the most diametrically opposite surface. Take Zverev with your tennis picks.
Pick: Zverev in three sets
Horacio Zeballos vs. Andreas Seppi
This is a matchup in which Zeballos has been playing better of late, having reached the latter stages of the Barcelona tournament. However, Zeballos might be worn out against the struggling Seppi. The Italian wants to get off the deck and bounce back, and he should have the fresher legs in this matchup. Rest will probably carry Seppi through to victory in Germany. This is the kind of match in which recent form isn’t necessarily the best indicator of who will win. Go with Seppi for your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Seppi in straight sets
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