With Wimbledon ending Sunday with a second consecutive title for Carlos Alcaraz, the ATP Tour returns to clay, with the biggest tournament of the week being played in Hamburg. While defending champion Alexander Zverev is the only Top 10 player in the draw, there are a lot of very good clay court players in it, including a lot of Germans playing at home. It should be a very compelling tournament, starting from this first day. As always, we at LWOT predict all of the matches for you. We split the Day 1 matches between this and another article.
ATP Hamburg Day 1 Predictions
Ugo Blanchet vs Alexei Popyrin
Head-to-head: first meeting
Popyrin had a nice run at Wimbledon, but on clay he’s generally far less proficient. Blanchet had a nice run through qualifying and likes playing on clay; although he’s the much lower ranked player, he could certainly make things very difficult for Popyrin here and it should be a very close match.
Prediction: Popyrin in 3
Soonwoo Kwon vs Maximilian Marterer
Head-to-head: Marterer 1-0 Kwon
Kwon has been struggling massively in the past one and a half years, barely winning any matches, but Marterer hasn’t exactly been playing well either. This is a great opportunity for both players to get a rare win at this level and it should be a very close match, decided by fine details, with perhaps Marterer’s home advantage deciding it.
Prediction: Marterer in 3
Laslo Djere vs Zizou Bergs
Head-to-head: Djere 2-1 Bergs
Djere reached the final here last year, which shows how comfortable he is on these courts. It also means that he could potentially go down the rankings significantly if he doesn’t have a good week here though, so he will be under a lot of pressure and facing an opponent who can play quite well on clay. It should be another very close match.
Prediction: Djere in 3
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Flavio Cobolli vs Daniel Altmaier
Head-to-head: Altmaier 1-0 Cobolli
Altmaier had an amazing win over Sinner last year at Roland Garros but has never reached those levels again. He can be dangerous on clay on his day, but it rarely materializes; Cobolli is generally the more solid and consistent player, and also enjoys playing on clay, so he should have a slight edge here.
Prediction: Cobolli in 3
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports