We've got three picks from the Madrid qualifying final today, with warm and overcast conditions at the Caja Mágica and a few interesting storylines to dig into. Who do you think punches their ticket into the main draw?
Mutua Madrid Open Qualifying Predictions
Marco Trungelliti vs Daniel Merida Aguilar
Head-to-head: Trungelliti 3-0 Aguilar
Three from three for Trungelliti in this matchup, and yet we're picking Aguilar here, which tells you something about how we see each of them playing right now. Trungelliti at 79 in the world has the ranking edge, but Aguilar is the local hope and home qualifying crowds in Madrid can do funny things to a match. The H2H is hard to ignore, but head-to-head records in qualifying at this level can be misleading when form shifts.
I think Aguilar finds enough in front of his home crowd to edge this one out in three, even if Trungelliti makes him work for it.
Prediction: Aguilar in 3
Cristian Garin vs Martin Damm
Head-to-head: First meeting
Garin on clay is a different beast entirely. He's won an ATP title on the surface and spent years as a genuine clay threat on the tour and even if he's been working his way back through the rankings, this is still his best surface by some distance. Hard to see Damm, ranked 43 spots lower for a reason, making this competitive at all, and first meetings on clay tend to favor the more experienced clay mover.
Garin gets through this, probably not without a wobble somewhere, but he gets through, all things considered.
Prediction: Garin in 3
Yibing Wu vs Titouan Droguet
Head-to-head: First meeting
Wu has been building steadily back up the rankings after a rough stretch with injury, and clay isn't exactly his strongest surface, but at 100 in the world he's still the more proven commodity here. That said, Droguet has had some decent results on clay at the Challenger level but hasn't quite broken through at this stage yet. The overcast conditions in Madrid, which tend to slow things down more than people expect, should let Wu settle into the longer rallies he's become pretty comfortable handling.
Wu wins this one in three sets.
Prediction: Wu in 3
For full predictions on ATP and WTA matches today, check out Uppset.
Credit Image: © Chris Putnam/ZUMA Press Wire