ATP Tournament in Houston, 1st Round, Tuesday, 05.04.2022
With the Masters in Indian Wells and Miami, the international tennis circuit has seen some exciting decisions with some surprising winners in recent weeks, but there is not much time to take a deep breath.
These days, the men’s singles have gathered in Houston, among other places. One who has shown strong performances of late is looking to keep his USA form going. Read my McDonald Kyrgios tip to find out why the Australian is narrowly snatching the favourites
While some stars of the scene are recovering from the two Masters tournaments, for others it’s straight on. After Indian Wells and Miami, Houston is the third stop on the USA Tour.
For Nick Kyrgios, it would be a great opportunity to finally maintain his recent form over a longer period of time and thus improve his ranking. That is exactly what he has already done in recent weeks.
He is now ranked 94th, actually still much too far behind if you look back at his performances. In Indian Wells, he narrowly missed out on Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals, and he also wanted to shine in Miami.
At first everything looked wonderful, he decisively put players like Andrey Rublev and Fabio Fognini in their place. But when the match against Jannik Sinner came up, Kyrgios once again lost his nerve.
He earned himself some penalty points, chopped his rackets and lost in two sets in the end. Now the big question arises, one that even betting aficionados are struggling to answer: How much does the enfant terrible fancy Houston, a much smaller stage than last time?
In 2018 he took part here for the first time, eliminated after the second duel. Now he’s competing a second time.
Understandable, after all, Mackenzie McDonald is ranked 52nd. Will the American be able to make up for his size disadvantage (1.78 to 1.93) on Tuesday? Before both celebrate their 27th birthday in a few days, they will play out their second direct duel.
A year ago in Washington, McDonald had secured a 6-4, 6-4. The American is not in a bad mood at all at the moment, because he has also been able to convince in Indian Wells and Miami.
His clear victory over Grigor Dimitrov at the recent Masters in particular caused a stir, although the American later had no chance against Alexander Zverev. Not for nothing did he beat Aslan Karatsev in Dubai and win a set against Andrey Rublev.
My McDonald Kyrgios Tip
Get Nick Kyrgios’ matches right, there are few things in top-level tennis that are harder. It’s up to the Australian himself to decide how much he fancies the upcoming tournaments. Still, after his last few performances, the favourites have to go to him.
My tip louder therefore: Kyrgios wins against McDonald!
