The second round of the Delray Beach Open concludes out in Florida on Thursday, and by the end of the day’s play we will know the quarter final line up in the latest ATP 250 event which continues the run up to the first two Masters 1000 series tournaments next month.
By and large everything went as was expected in the second round on Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see if the favourites all make it through on Thursday or whether we have more shocks waiting for us. All matches are on the Stadium Court now.
Day Session
Miomir Kecmanovic vs Ugo Humbert
The first match onto the court is the one between the two young stars making a name for themselves at the minute as Miomir Kecmanovic takes on Ugo Humbert for a spot in the quarter final.
These two men have met on three separate occasions in their short career and interestingly Kecmanovic has won all three battles. He also has the advantage here of his first round opponent Jordan Thompson quitting after a set so he should be fresher than his opponent. Humbert got lucky when Kyle Edmund had to withdraw but he had to go three sets in the first round, although the short notice of his opponent coming in probably didn’t help with that.
Normally I don’t take a huge notice of head to head records, but when one of the wins for Kecmanovic was in New York just last week and the other two relatively recent too, I think you have to stand up and use it. Throw in the freshness advantage as well and I think the Serbian should be backed to come through this one.
Tommy Paul vs Frances Tiafoe
It is two Americans who will round out the day session on the main stadium court on Thursday when Tommy Paul looks to continue his good form against Frances Tiafoe, a former champion here who will be hoping to regain the title this week.
Both these men ended up taking on weaker opponents than they were originally slated to, which saw them come through pretty comfortably and one of them is going to build on that and move into the quarter final. The rankings would suggest that will be Paul, but for my money Tiafoe is the better player of the two and I actually think he can get over the line in this one. He obviously has a liking for this part of Florida having won the title here a couple of years ago and he can use those good memories to win this match.
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Night Session
Jack Sock vs Steve Johnson
We begin the night session with two men who have lost their way a little bit in recent times as Jack Sock takes on Steve Johnson for a place in what would be a big quarter final for whichever one is good enough to secure their place in it.
Sock’s fall from grace has been such that he doesn’t even have a ranking anymore so he probably deserves credit for seeing off last year’s champion Radu Albot, albeit it has to be said that match was a shocker standard wise. Johnson took care of Henri Laaksonen in the opening round which was a much better win and I fully expect him to back that up with another here. I don’t see him dropping a set and the odds against on 2-0 looks decent enough to me.
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe vs Milos Raonic
The final match of the second round sees the new tournament favourite Milos Raonic taking to the court again, as he looks to show why he is the highest seed left in the draw when he takes on the German player Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.
Stebe had a great win over Bernard Tomic in the opening round but he has his work cut out to come away with a victory in this one, against a Raonic whose powerful serve is a massive weapon, and whom the rest of his game should be far too good for his opponent. I’m expecting this to be complete one-way traffic but the odds are fully reflective of that so I’m happy to sit this last game of the round out.
Tips
Back M.Kecmanovic to beat U.Humbert for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Betway
Back him here:
WON – Back F.Tiafoe to beat T.Paul for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back S.Johnson to win 2-0 for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with 888sport
Back him here:
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