Tennis London • Ricky’s Picks For Day 3 At Queen’s Club: Wawrinka vs. Evans And Kyrgios vs. Mannarino

By Ricky Dimon

 

A complete washout at the Fever-Tree Championships on Tuesday means the schedules of play on Wednesday and Thursday will be unusually packed. First-round action wraps up–weather permitting–on Wednesday with Stan Wawrinka and Nick Kyrgios among those taking the court.

 

Ricky previews those two matches and makes his predictions.

 

(7) Stan Wawrinka vs. (WC) Dan Evans

Wawrinka and Evans will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they clash in round one of the Fever-Tree Championships on Wednesday afternoon. Both of their previous encounters have gone Wawrinka’s way, but it has not been easy. He famously saved a match point in the 2016 U.S. Open third round, triumphing 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(8), 6-2 before going on two in the entire tournament. They faced each other again at the Indian Wells Masters earlier this season, where Wawrinka prevailed 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3.

Evans, however, has home-court advantage this time in London and he is also in strong form. The resurgent Brit is back up to 63rd in the rankings thanks in part to consecutive grass-court Challenger titles in Surbiton and Nottingham. Still, that means there has been a lot of wear and tear on the body and this contest represents a huge step up in competition (only one of Evans’ 10 Challenger opponents was in the top 100; none in the top 80). Wawrinka is coming off a quarterfinal run at Roland Garros and he has had plenty of time for practice on grass–especially because this contest was initially scheduled for Tuesday but got rained out. This should competitive, but the edge–again–goes to Wawrinka.

Pick: Wawrinka in 2

 

Nick Kyrgios vs. (SE) Adrian Mannarino

Previously 0-6 lifetime in ATP finals, Mannarino finally got over the hump last Sunday when he lifted the trophy in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The 30-year-old Frenchman beat Thiemo de Bakker, Fernando Verdasco, and David Goffin before finishing off a rain-delayed SF against Borna Coric on Sunday prior to defeating Jordan Thompson 7-6(7), 6-3. He climbed to No. 34 in the world with that result and finds himself in prime contention for Wimbledon seeding.

Rain has also come into play for Mannarino at Queen’s Club, where his first-rounder against Nick Kyrgios was pushed back from Tuesday to Wednesday. An extra day of rest is undoubtedly a plus, but who knows if a draw against Kyrgios is a good thing or bad? The world Ni. 39 from Australia played only two events on clay, falling right away in Stuttgart to Jan-Lennard Struff and then getting defaulted from his second-round match in Rome. Kyrgios even lost his opening grass-court match to Matteo Berrettini last week in Stuttgart. But Berrettini went on to capture the title–so that wasn’t a bad loss–and in general Kyrgios is a force on the slick stuff. As long as he serves somewhat consistently, the 24-year-old should have too much game for an opponent whose run may come to a temporary halt.

Pick: Kyrgios in 2

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.