Round one continues at the Madrid Masters on Thursday with young American Alex Michelsen taking on fellow rising star Joao Fonseca and Czech teen Jakub Mensik facing German veteran Yannick Hanfmann.
Alex Michelsen vs. (WC) Joao Fonseca
This battle of the youngsters will be one to keep an eye on. American Alex Michelsen turned pro last year at age 18 with reasonable success. Michelson is ranked 70th in the world. The American won two matches at the Australian Open and also had good success in Los Cabos, where he made the quarterfinals. Michelsen played a couple clay events already this year, including a showing last week in Munich.
Joao Fonseca has already made plenty of waves in the tennis community–he just did them in juniors last season. He put in three quarterfinal showings at the Grand Slam junior events before sweeping to the title at the U.S. Open. The 17-year-old got to the final at a Challenger event earlier this season, and he made the quarters in Bucharest last week.
If you want to watch the potential future of tennis, this is a good place to start. Fonseca is ranked 242nd in the world–much lower than Michelsen–but in this case his star is emphatically on the rise. Don’t be surprised if the Brazilian snags the “upset.”
Cheryl pick: Fonseca in 3
Ricky pick: Fonseca in 2
WWW: Michelsen vs. Fonseca?
Jakub Mensik vs. Jannick Hanfmann
Czechia’s Jakub Mensik is looking to recapture the magic that saw the teen to the final of the event in Dona (where he beat Andrey Rublev along the way). Since then, however, Mensik has had a series of three second-round losses. He is ranked No. 74 in the world, and while he has proven what he’s capable of, he hasn’t made much noise on clay. His run in Doha was on hard courts.
Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann is on the the other side of 30. The world No. 58 hasn’t had a fantastic start to the season, with a ranking low enough that he was forced to qualify for the Monte-Carlo Masters. He was successful in doing so but promptly lost in the first round to Arthur Fils. What the German has going for him is that he is better on clay than his opponent. And while it’s true that the clay in Madrid is not as typically clay as, say, Monte-Carlo, it’s still dirt–and that’s an advantage for Hanfmann regardless of his current form.
Cheryl pick: Mensik in 3
Ricky pick: Hanfmann in 2
WWW: Hanfmann vs. Mensik?
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