A few picks from the first round in 's-Hertogenbosch today, and honestly it's a fascinating slate. Grass brings out some strange results in the early rounds and today's matches have a couple of genuine upsets on the cards. Which of these do you see actually playing out?
Libema Open Predictions
Martin Damm vs Alex De Minaur
Head-to-head: First meeting
De Minaur is one of the better grass-court movers on tour and reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, so on paper this should be comfortable. But Damm is a natural serve-and-volleyer on grass, grew up on the surface, and at 114 in the world he still has the tools to cause real problems at net. First rounds on grass are notoriously tricky, and De Minaur has had some early exits here before.
It won't be pretty and it probably goes three, but Damm takes this one.
Prediction: Damm in 3
Hubert Hurkacz vs Marton Fucsovics
Head-to-head: Hurkacz 0-3 Fucsovics
Three from three for Fucsovics in this one, which is genuinely wild when you consider how far Hurkacz's career has gone relative to his Hungarian opponent. Hubi has been working his way back from injury and is down at 96 in the rankings, so he's not coming in at full confidence. Fucsovics is a solid grass-court player and knows exactly how to handle Hurkacz and that 0-3 record isn't a fluke.
That said, Hurkacz's serve on grass, arguably the best in the business on this surface, is still a massive weapon and I feel like he finally breaks the streak here. Probably needs three sets to do it though.
Prediction: Hurkacz in 3
Ugo Humbert vs Benjamin Bonzi
Head-to-head: Humbert 1-3 Bonzi
Humbert at 128 is clearly not in the best form of his career right now, and Bonzi holds a 3-1 lead in their H2H. Both are French, both can play on grass, but Bonzi has been the more consistent of the two over the last year or so. Hard to see Humbert being a real threat here when it doesn't click for him he tends to fall apart quickly.
Bonzi wins this in three, all things considered.
Prediction: Bonzi in 3
For full predictions on ATP and WTA matches today, check out Uppset.
Credit Image: © Oscar J. Barroso/AFP7 via ZUMA Press Wire