TipResumen

PREVIEW

The Lucky Loser Lorenzo Sonego has taken full advantage of his reprieve at the US Open by beating Gilles Muller in five sets to move through to the Second Round. This all means some vital Ranking points will be earned by the Italian who could move into the top 100 in the weeks ahead, but backing up the win over Muller is going to be a huge challenge for him. Sonego will play one of the stronger up and coming stars on the ATP Tour in Karen Khachanov who destroyed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets on Monday. After a strong showing in Toronto and Cincinnati, Khachanov has come into the US Open with some real confidence and he has the game to cause problems for most on this surface. The serve is a huge weapon for Khachanov who is holding at 87% on the hard courts in 2018 and he didn't even face a break point in the First Round. That puts some real scoreboard pressure on opponents throughout sets and matches, although Khachanov has to understand how to get more out of his return game if he is really to fulfil the obvious potential he has. Over the course of 2018 there has been little real improvement on the return side of things which is a concern in the development of any player. Khachanov has had his moments over the last month and has produced some strong matches, but the consistency on the return is lacking and that also makes it hard to pick him to cover such a big number as the one in front of him. Khachanov was very good at tackling the Ramos-Vinolas serve in the First Round, but Sonego's is a little stronger than the Spaniard's delivery. There is a very small sample of how Sonego has performed on the main ATP Tour with this being just his fourth match on the hard courts at this kind of level, but there has been a big drop off in these matches compared to Sonego's numbers overall on the hard courts in 2018. Even a very limited returner like Gilles Muller was able to break the Sonego serve three times in the First Round and I do think Khachanov will prove to be too strong. The young Russian has to stay focused throughout if we are to get the cover of the number too, but I think the conditions will mean most players want to get through matches with as little fuss as possible and so I would expect his team to drill in the need for focus. I imagine there will be one or two tight sets, but I am also looking for Khachanov to show significant superiority in at least one set and that could be enough to see him get over this number.



PREDICTION

I will back the favourite to eventually have too much for the Lucky Loser and find a set with a couple of breaks of serve to help Karen Khachanov cover this number.