The ATP’s Citi Open tournament moves into the second round and so do our tennis picks. We’ll see some spillover from the players who did not complete their second-round matches on Tuesday.
We had a productive day with our tennis picks on Tuesday, going 2-1 on the men’s side. We ended up falling with Gregor Dimitrov, who lost in straight sets to Daniel Evans. Dimitrov was competitive, but lost 6-4 in both sets. However, we made it a winning day by cashing in our other two picks. We had Sam Querrey, who dropped the first set, but managed to win the final two. Bjorn Fratangelo proved to be a challenge as he won the first set in a tiebreak before losing 6-4, 6-4 in the final two sets. We also had a test from our second pick, Donald Young. He won the first set, lost the second set, and came back to win the third set. In total, six of the 11 matches on the day required the full three sets to be decided.
Looking ahead to Wednesday, the 48-player field means that after 16 first-round matches, 16 more second-round matches have to be played, and those matches are split into two days before narrowing the field to the third round, which is scheduled for Thursday.
Donald Young vs. Bernard Tomic
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding this match. Tomic had a better Wimbledon than Young, reaching the fourth round before falling to Lucas Pouille, who has enjoyed a very successful year on tour. However, Tomic doesn’t really do all that well away from grass courts. He did nothing during the clay season, and his hardcourt results have not been much better. Moreover, Tomic is noted for being physically weak in grueling conditions, such as what Washington, D.C., is offering this week with relatively high temperatures and very high humidity. Tomic once tanked a whole match against the now-retired Jarkko Nieminen in Miami, a very humid place. Tomic lost a match in 28 minutes, one of the shortest (if not the shortest) men’s matches in tennis history. Young is coming off a first-round win, so he has a measure of rhythm at this tournament. Tomic is playing his first match in Washington. Young probably has the hitting skills to get Tomic off balance and make the Australian work. Unless Young is awful in the first several games of the match, he should be able to wear down Tomic as the match goes along. Take Young with your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Young in three sets
Second Round: John Isner vs. James Duckworth
This is a match in which Isner, being a big guy who doesn’t cover the court all that well, knows he has to serve huge and win in straight sets. There’s no other way around it. Isner has to be able to manage his body on the court in what’s expected to be very tough conditions. He has to play very short points. He is used to that as a server, but he will have to avoid playing too many long points as a returner of serve. Isner is experienced enough to play the kind of match he wants to, and Duckworth is not that powerful an opponent. Duckworth would probably want to be able to run Isner around the court, but bettors should question if he’s skilled enough to do that. Probably not. Take Isner with your tennis picks in this matchup.
Pick: Isner in straight sets
Second Round: Yen-Hsun Lu vs. Gael Monfils
This is a matchup in which Monfils is easily the better player with more talent and defensive abilities. However, Monfils has been constantly injured over the past few months. He made the final of Monte Carlo in April and had a chance to put together a great year, but then his body betrayed him again and again. Monfils is the better player, but Lu is healthier. Take Lu with your tennis picks in what is a very mysterious and difficult match to judge.
Pick: Lu in three sets
