ATP Masters in Miami, Qualifier, Monday, 20.03.2023
The last Masters has only been over for a few hours and the next one is already waiting in the wings! These days we are looking at the Miami qualifiers, because there are a few surprises in store here as well.
From the German point of view, we have a few hot irons in the fire. For the number 124 in the world, the adventure begins against a local hero, and he is heavily favoured at Betano. Why I too would bet on a clear victory, I now reveal in my Altmaier Damm tip!
He is still waiting for the really big coup that will make the well-known knot burst! Daniel Altmaier wants to jump back into the top 100 players in the world as soon as possible in 2023.
That should be possible for someone who played a strong, albeit lost 3-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-7 against Frances Tiafoe at the Australian Open.
The 24-year-old skipped the tournament in Indian Wells, but was seeded in the much smaller Challenger in Puerto Vallarta. There he was seeded first, but the desired success did not materialise.
Altmaier eliminated his compatriots Dominik Koepfer and Elmar Ejupovic, but fell to Yuta Shimizu 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 in the quarter-finals. After his quarter-final in Monterrey, it was the second time he had reached the top eight.
Not bad, but not yet as consistent as he would like. In Miami, the entire world elite is competing, so it would already be a first success to even make it to the main round.
In 2021, at his premiere, he was knocked out in the first round of the qualifying, last year he lost 4-6, 4-6 to J.J. Wolf. But: This time already in the main draw.
He will meet Martin Damm for the first time ever this Monday evening. If it’s up to the best betting companies, he should hardly have any problems here, the average odds at least show a 1.15 to 4.70.
Damm should probably be sure of the crowd’s support, after all he is competing for the USA. He is 19 years old, so a Masters in his home country should make quite an impression here.
He still has a long way to go in the world rankings and is currently ranked 426. The left-hander is a proud ten centimetres taller than Altmaier, and he wants to make the most of this advantage, especially when it comes to service.
The last time in Puerto Vallarta it didn’t work out so well, for Damm it was already the end of the line in the qualification. It is not easy to classify his performances correctly, after all, he usually competes in even much smaller competitions.
Although Damm has already reached the semi-finals twice this year, the opponents there hardly mean anything even to the really die-hard tennis fans. That should make it all the more difficult to correctly assess the US American for Monday.
Last year, he tried to qualify for Miami for the first time, but lost to Daniel Elahi Galan 3-6, 4-6 in the first round. So at least he didn’t go down completely in terms of the result.
My Altmaier Damm Tip
Daniel Altmaier got a pretty easy opponent in the draw, should actually make the next round of qualifying easily. Although not everything is going according to plan in 2023, the first small exclamation marks have already been made.
I could only find out a little about his opponent Martin Damm in my analysis. He is ranked beyond number 400 and only plays in very small tournaments. That’s why I think the German will have a solid performance and I’m betting on him:
Altmaier wins smoothly against Damm!
