The ATP’s Swedish Open tournament remains in the second round and so do our tennis picks. Looking back to Wednesday, we had a successful day with our tennis picks as we went 2-1 with our selections. We cashed in with Fernando Verdasco, who ousted Albert Montanes in straight sets. The latter won just five games. We also got a win with Albert Ramos, who also needed just two sets to oust Roberto Carballes. Carballes pushed him into a tiebreaker in the first set but faded in the second set after that. Lastly, our lone loss came from Evgeny Donskoy, who disappointed against Andrea Arnaboldi. Donskoy was only able to win five games in the entire match before bowing oout.
Thursday is the second day of the two-day second round schedule before the quarterfinals on Friday. The highlight of Thursday’s order of play is that the top two seeds in the tournament will take the court, trying to bag an ATP title against a comparatively manageable field.
Taro Daniel vs. Gastao Elias
This match is played later on Thursday, but it isn’t the kind of match that should be played at the end of the day in prime time. It really should be a match played at noon, before the more significant matches on the schedule. Daniel is ranked 117, Elias 89. These are both lower-level journeymen who are barely if ever heard in any of the more significant tournaments on the tennis calendar. They are most prominently found precisely at these events, the ATP 250s in which lower-ranked players get their best and most reasonable shots to win matches and move up the points ladder. Elias, being from Portugal, has ample familiarity with clay. Daniel, from Japan, isn’t entirely foreign to the surface, but this is more of Elias’ natural tennis habitat. Give Elias a slight edge in a fairly close match and take him with your tennis picks.
Pick: Elias in three sets
Joao Sousa vs. Carl Soderlund
This should be a blowout. Sousa is a very solid clay-court player, good enough to be the number two seed at this event. Sousa is not very strong on grass courts, and he’s a little more comfortable on hardcourts, but it’s on clay where he relishes playing and tries to enter as many tournaments as he reasonably can. He has improved his ranking over time to the point that he can get a top-five seeding in a lot of clay tournaments and threaten to get a seed at the Grand Slams.
Soderlund might be playing in front of home fans in his birthplace – he is a Swedish native and represents the country on tour – but he is ranked 479. He is only 19 years old, and is just beginning to try his hand at professional tennis.
Perhaps Soderlund would have a chance against a highly-seeded player who is nevertheless young and untested. Consider what happened in the German Open in Hamburg earlier this week: Alexander Zverev, though seeded fourth, lost to Inigo Cervantes, who is ranked outside the top 80. Zverev is still just 19, and his lack of maturity caused him to get ambushed by an inferior player. Perhaps Soderlund could pull a surprise against a quality player who is also very young. However, Sousa is exactly the opposite of that. The Portugese veteran is 27 years old. He’s worked his way into the top 35. He’s made definite forward strides in his career. He’s simply not the kind of player who will lose focus here. Take Sousa with your tennis picks in this spot.
Pick: Sousa in straight sets
David Ferrer vs. Calvin Hemery
This is another rout in the making. Ferrer is the top seed. He’s a French Open finalist from 2013. He’s won a lot of clay tournaments and has always loved the surface. Calvin Hemery is an obscure, young French player who is ranked 378. This is just not a match you need to think about at great length. Ferrer should roll, and everyone expects him to, so take him with your tennis picks.
Pick: Ferrer in straight sets
