Ricky’s Previews & Picks For Day 3 At Wimbledon • Khachanov vs. Lopez And Djokovic vs. Kudla • More

By Ricky Dimon

 

Second-round action gets underway at Wimbledon on Wednesday, when Novak Djokovic continues his title defense against Denis Kudla. Karen Khachanov, Feliciano Lopez, and Felix Auger-Aliassime are also taking the court.

 

Ricky previews four of the best matchups and makes his predictions.

 

(10) Karen Khachanov vs. Feliciano Lopez

In terms of both quality and competitiveness, this could be the best match of the whole second round. Lopez produced a legendary week at Queen’s Club, with an improbable singles title and a doubles triumph alongside Andy Murray. The Spaniard has always been great on grass and at this point in his career (37 years old) he might even be a grass-court specialist.

Khachanov has struggled in 2019, but he is still No. 9 in the world an he at least made a quarterfinal appearance in Halle. The Russian leads the head-to-head series 2-0, so he gets the slight edge.

Pick: Khachanov in 5

 

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Denis Kudla

Djokovic’s Wimbledon title defense got off to a strong start in round one, as he cruised past Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. The straightforward affair was hardly surprising for the top-seeded Serb, who is coming off a clay-court swing that included a title in Madrid, a runner-up showing in Rome, and a semifinal performance at Roland Garros. Djokovic is now 65-10 lifetime at Wimbledon with four titles.

Kudla may be as close as this tour has to a grass-court specialist. The 111th-ranked American has earned more than half of his career slam main-draw wins (six of 11) at Wimbledon. He played a whopping four grass-court warmup events prior to arriving at the All-England Club, including the Surbiton Challenger during the French. Like Kohlschreiber, Kudla is not an easy early-round opponent on the slick stuff. But Djokovic had no problems against the veteran German and he almost certainly won’t have any on Wednesday.

Pick: Djokovic in 3

 

(11) Daniil Medvedev vs. Alexei Popyrin

Popyrin is one of the sport’s future stars, and the present is similarly bright for the 19-year-old Aussie. He is already turning heads in London, having won three qualifying matches and then erasing former top 10 player Pablo Carreno Busta in straights on Monday.

With Medvedev having cooled off at the same time, this promises to be more competitive than the rankings would suggest. But the Russian has a lot more experience and his game should actually be quite well-suited for the greenery.

Pick: Medvedev in 4

 

(19) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (Q) Corentin Moutet

Monday was an outstanding day for Auger-Aliassime. He’s been having a lot of those recently. Not only did he pick up the first Grand Slam win of his career, but he also watched the other top two players in his 16th of the draw–Grigor Dimitrov and Gael Monfils–exit in five-setters.

That’s not to say Moutet won’t be tough. The Frenchman, who ousted Dimitrov from two sets down, has been on fire this summer. But it’s the Canadian who has too much firepower, especially on grass. It will take more than what Moutet has to offer to beat the fifth favorite to win Wimbledon.

Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 4

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.