There is a mixture of matches taking place in the Men’s draw in Beijing, with two final 1st round matches taking place as well as the 2nd round action beginning- here are three of my predictions!
Pablo Cuevas vs Tomas Berdych
Shenzhen champion and 2nd seed Tomas Berdych looks to get his campaign off to a good start as he faces Pablo Cuevas 2nd on the Lotus Court. Berdych will be full of confidence after his 1st title of the year in Shenzhen, and has played well in China so far. Whilst this season hasn’t hit the heights of 2014 for Pablo Cuevas, he has still had a pretty solid year and is still in the top 40. However whilst the two have never played before, Berdych is a much better player than Cuevas (Especially on hard courts) and should have far too much for the Uruguayan here.
Prediction: Berdych in 2
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs Ivo Karlovic
Two veterans of the tour face off in another 1st round match as Shenzhen runner-up Guillermo Garcia-Lopez faces the big serving Ivo Karlovic in the 2nd match on Moon Court. Both men will be comfortable, with Garcia-Lopez having a strong tournament in Shenzhen and Karlovic having a strong year in general. Incredibly the two haven’t played since 2007 (Garcia-Lopez leads the head to head 2-1) though it will be interesting to see how well Garcia-Lopez has recovered from Shenzhen. It should be tight, though I think Karlovic should have too much power for the Spaniard.
Prediction: Karlovic in 3
Vasek Pospisil vs Rafael Nadal
An interesting 2nd round match ends action on the National Tennis Stadium as Vasek Pospisil takes on 3rd seed Rafael Nadal. Pospisil had work hard to beat Victor Estrella Burgos in the 1st round, but has had a decent year and could trouble Nadal with his big serve and powerful ground strokes. Nadal won his 1st round match in straight sets, against Wu Di, though didn’t play particularly well and will need to improve against Pospisil. This should be a tight match, with lots of long rallies and it will not be easy for either of them. Nadal should come through this, though Pospisil should also not make it easy for him.
Prediction: Nadal in 3
Also in action
4th seed David Ferrer could have a tricky 2nd round match against Lukas Rosol, whilst Yen-Hsun Lu takes on Viktor Troicki and Andreas Haider-Maurer faces Jack Sock.
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