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Players will fight it out for a place in the quarterfinals on Day 3 of the 2024 Mexican Open in Acapulco.
Top seed Alexander Zverev was the latest high-profile name to exit the tournament as fellow German Daniel Altmaier beat him 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round. Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, and Felix Auger-Aliassime were already eliminated on Monday.
But it wasn't all doom and gloom for the big names. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, and Frances Tiafoe all made it through to the second round. While some of them had it easy, others had to raise their level to advance further.
The competition is only heating up now. Here are the predictions for some of the second-round matches set for Day 3 of the Mexican Open:
#1 - Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Flavio Cobolli
Tsitsipas handed Roman Safiullin a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to begin his Mexican Open campaign with a solid performance. He won 83 percent of his first serve points and didn't lose his serve even once. It also marked his eighth career win at the venue against just two losses.
Cobolli fought his way to the main draw of the Mexican Open with a couple of three-set victories in the qualifying rounds. He then staged a comeback to register a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round.
Cobolli has been pushed to three sets in every match he has played here so far. Tsitsipas played at a pretty good level in his opener and if he's able to maintain the same intensity, he should be able to deal with the young Italian as well.
Predicted winner: Stefanos Tsitsipas
#2 - Casper Ruud vs Dusan Lajovic
Ruud fought past Christopher Eubanks with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win in the first round of the Mexican Open. The Norwegian didn't face a single break point throughout the match.
Lajovic downed home favorite Rodrigo Pacheco 6-2, 6-2 in his opening round match here. The Serb and Ruud have faced off four times before with the latter leading 3-1 in the head-to-head.
Ruud lost their most recent encounter at the 2022 Madrid Open but has won both of their matches on hardcourts. The Norwegian is in much better form at the moment compared to Lajovic and will be favored to progress further.
Predicted winner: Casper Ruud
#3 - Frances Tiafoe vs Dominik Koepfer
Tiafoe dug deep to score a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Max Purcell in the first round and avoided the same fate as his fellow Americans Fritz and Paul. Koepfer was pushed to a deciding set as well by Terence Atmane but finished the match on a strong note as he won 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
Tiafoe has struggled to get going this season and has won consecutive matches just once, which he did at the Delray Beach Open. However, Koepfer's 4-21 record against top 20 players tips the scale in the American's favor.
Koepfer has lost his last seven matches against players ranked in the top 20. His last win over a player ranked in that region was back in November 2021. As such, Tiafoe shouldn't have a problem in dealing with a player who struggles against higher-ranked opposition and should make it to the next round.
Predicted winner: Frances Tiafoe
#4 - Alex de Minaur vs Sebastian Ofner
De Minaur kicked off his title defense at the Mexican Open with an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Taro Daniel. Ofner snapped his three-match losing skid with a hard-fought 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over Ernesto Escobedo in the opening round.
Ofner had reached the semifinals of the Hong Kong Open at the start of the season but had struggled since then. As for de Minaur, his string of good results came to an abrupt end with an early exit from last week's Los Cabos Open. He was beaten 6-4, 6-1 by Alex Michelsen in the second round.
Nevertheless, de Minaur has played some of his best tennis this year. He finally cracked the top 10 of the ATP rankings a few weeks ago and has peaked at No. 9 so far. He also finished as the runner-up at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open.
As for Ofner, aside from trying to rediscover his form, he's also seeking his first win over a top-10 player. Given how well de Minaur has played this season, it's unlikely he'll be the Austrian's first win over a higher-ranked adversary.
Predicted winner: Alex de Minaur
