TipResumen

PREVIEW

2018 has been an incredibly poor year for Jack Sock and the loss of form is a real surprise when you think the American won the Paris Masters and reached the Semi Final of the ATP World Tour Finals at the end of 2017. A 5-16 record in 2018 does not inspire any sort of confidence in Jack Sock so it may be a big surprise to read that I will not only be backing him to win in the First Round at the US Open, but also win by a large enough margin to cover this number. Sock has never been a dominant player on the hard courts despite the feeling that he should be at his most happiest on this surface. He might have been 50-30 on the surface in 2016 and 2017 combined, but Sock has been winning with some tight numbers and the slight decline on serve and return on the hard courts in 2018 has seen Sock drop into a losing record. He has only reached one Fourth Round at the US Open in the last three seasons and a couple of early losses makes him look a vulnerable Seed in this tournament. Sock is about to take a significant fall in the World Rankings in the months ahead if he can't put some wins together and confidence has looked short which makes it a bit of a surprise I am willing to back him, but the First Round draw looks about as good as Sock could have asked for. There have been a couple of disappointing losses for Sock on the hard courts in 2018, but he won't have played someone like Guido Andreozzi who has played just eighteen hard court matches since the beginning of 2016. Andreozzi did reach the Third Round in Winston Salem last week having come through the Qualifiers and that may give him some belief to take into New York, but he has a vulnerable serve on the hard courts and that is where Sock has to take advantage. The Argentinian has not won enough points behind serve to take advantage of what has been a decent return game. I do think Andreozzi can cause problems for Sock who simply has not played with any real confidence for some time but the latter should still have enough to win this in four sets which should also be good enough for him to cover this number.



PREDICTION

It has been a terrible 2018 for Jack Sock, but he should still have enough to win a match like this one.