ATP Masters in Madrid, 1st Round, Tuesday, 03.05.2022
The ladies have been in the Spanish capital for a few days already, now the Masters of Madrid starts for the men as well! The density of top stars is great, but there have already been enough surprises this year.
Why not also an American champion in 2022? In the 1st round on Tuesday, two players meet who could actually both be expected further ahead. Read my Opelka Korda tip to see who I see as favourites!
When the 17th ranked player in the world meets the number 30, you don’t necessarily expect it to be the 1st round of a tournament. Both Sebastian Korda and Reilly Opelka were expected to advance, but now only one will definitely advance.
The 2.11m tall Opelka is seen slightly behind by the German betting companies, odds of 2.10 to 1.80, however, make clear that many assume a close head-to-head race.
Opelka actually wanted to gain confidence in Munich, but this shot clearly backfired. He lost outright to Oscar Otte in round 1 and could not at all confirm his performance from the previous tournament win in Houston.
Strong performances alternate with injuries and weak performances, in 2022 the US American has already shown the most different faces.
Three finals and two titles, plus great duels against players like Rafael Nadal, Denis Shapovalov or John Isner, this 24-year-old can actually do quite a lot. When he pulled out of Miami right at the beginning, he followed it up with a tournament win in Houston.
It would be a big surprise if he could pull off such a feat now. He has never played Sebastian Korda, and his record in Madrid does not read too positively.
At his premiere three years ago, he stood up to Dominic Thiem, but had to retire at 1-1. In 2021, he was defeated by Dominik Koepfer right at the start. So here too, strong performances alternate with weak ones.
Sebastian Korda, three years younger at 21, will be playing in the main draw of the Madrid Masters for the first time anyway. He, too, has not yet been able to achieve consistency in 2022.
In Estoril, at his last tournament, he made it to the semi-finals and beat Felix Auger-Aliassime. All the more surprising was the 3-6, 0-6 against Carlos Taberner in Barcelona. Finally, Korda triumphed over Carlos Alcaraz in Monte Carlo and almost won against Taylor Fritz.
The 1.96m right-hander is one of the biggest talents on the tour, has only one elimination in his stats this year without a tiebreak or close result.
My Opelka Korda Tip
Both US players have already put in impressive performances this year, beating the absolute top stars. It’s even more of a shame that they can’t both advance to the 2nd round
Opelka is used to tiebreaks, but his younger colleague is also almost only eliminated in close results. In this respect, I can really only come to the following tip:
We see more than 23.5 games!
