Mayer’s German Tennis Championship campaign took off just fine, as the German soundly defeated Marco Cecchinato.
Mayer’s service game was on top form against Cecchinato, as the 51st ranked player put 67 percent of his first serves in and won 70 percent of his first serve points. With the victory, Mayer’s clay court record this year improves to 3-5. That should be enough momentum for Mayer heading into his second round showdown with Kuznetsov, who’s just ranked No. 71 in the world.
Mayer has two ATP titles to show for his career so far, winning in Bucharest in 2011 and the Gerry Weber Open last year, also in Germany.
Coming off a huge win over last year’s runner-up, Kuznetsov is looking to score another upset later tonight. Kuznetsov reserved a seat in the second round by knocking the Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas out of the tournament by eking out a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 come-from-behind victory in the first round.
Kuznetsov showed tremendous poise and resiliency in defeating Cuevas, as he weathered Cuevas’ strong serves (had 10 aces) while fighting back from a first-set loss.
Unlike Mayer, Kuznetsov has a winning clay court record this 2017 with a 9-6 slate. So far in his career, however, the Russian is 29-35 in ATP clay court matches.
Writer’s Prediction
Mayer (+190) advances to the third round with win.
