ATP Washington – Tuesday Preview

Ryan Harrison vs. Mischa Zverev

After 2 semi-finals in a row in Atlanta and Los Angeles, american Ryan Harrison enters as a big favorite against german Mischa Zverev. With only 3 wins this year, 2 of them on Challenger level and on hard courts in Indian Wells, the German is in poor confidence.

Zverev will try to boost his game and confidence as he suits better on fast surfaces, his powerful serve and net game suits better, the only problem is his mental approach. The match can be tricky as Harrison hasn’t much experience against left hander, he lost to Berrer, Odesnik, Zeballos, Mannarino this year. The American is in good form but he will be for the first time big favorite in a match and the expectations will be high this time and Zverev might take advantage of that.

Marcel Ilhan Marcel vs. Flavio Cipolla

Flavio Cipolla played well this year and is close to re-enter the Top 100. He was better on hard courts this year and enters with 21/8 record wining the Burnie Challenger and having other 4 quarter-finals.

Ilhan instead played better on clay and he enters with 5/7 record on hard courts with the last match back in Miami.

Cipolla hasn’t a powerful serve to win cheap points but he puts a lot of fight on court and has good retrieving skills to compensate, he isn’t powerful but relies on chasing the balls and put them back into the court, he opens the court before making a winner and can frustrate anyone in a given day.

Ilhan has a better serve and is a tough baseliner but he needs to be more aggressive and not let the Italian to dictate the rhythm from the back of the court. Cipolla is coming after he played on hard courts and the only setback for him it will be his trip to America.

Paolo Lorenzi vs. Michael Berrer

The best results for Lorenzi on hard this year is in Miami when he qualified and beat Ljubicic in first round and enters with 9/8 on the surface in all competitions.

He played recently in Recanati Challenger but he lost in first round to Gaio. Neither Berrer stays better as he is coming after five lost in a row and has a poorer record of 3/8 with wins only to Phau, Marchenko and Sela.

The Italian is a solid baseliner who isn’t comfortable at the net and will try to play with deep balls to keep Berrer on the baseline. The match stays on Berrer’s racquet, he has the better serve and he isn’t without chances from the back of the court and his wins this year came to other tough baseliners who also doesn’t have the power to put him off balance.

Ryan Sweeting vs. Alex Jr. Bogomolov

Bogomolov is coming after a semi-final in Los Angeles losing to eventual champion Ernests Gulbis and has one of his best years, he is 11/7 on hard courts this season while his compatriot Ryan Sweeting didn’t excel this year but he is 19/8.

Bogomolov is yet to win a match in Washington in 3 appearances including qualifications while Sweeting reached third round last year and has a 8/3 record overall. They know each other games well, head-to-head is 4/3 for Sweeting including a win last year in Washington in qualifications.

Bogomolov has problems with other tough baseliners losing to Berankins, Sweeting, Lu, Millman, Delic, Witten recently, he relies on his baseline display.

Sweeting was spotted in Washington on a training session and reports said that he looks fitter than ever, he has more stings on serve then Bogomolov but also is a tough baseliner and not gives free points. It will be a hard match with a lot of tough exchanges.