A pair of Masters 1000 tournaments (Montreal and Cincinnati) have come and gone. The primary week of the U.S. Open begins on Monday, headlined by singles qualifying and the blended doubles match.
Meaning the Winston-Salem Open could be ignored. However that actually shouldn’t be the case, as a result of it is without doubt one of the strongest ATP 250 occasions on the annual tennis calendar. A subject of 48 gamers (16 byes) contains Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tomas Machac, Lorenzo Sonego, Luciano Darderi, and Botic van de Zandschulp. Medvedev, the highest seed, was a late entry as he seeks matches — and confidence — upfront of the yr’s remaining main in New York. Tsitsipas is beginning to discover some kind following a poor first half of 2026, whereas Machac is enjoying for simply the second time since Roland Garros.
As is all the time the case in every week earlier than a Grand Slam, something can occur in Winston-Salem. In any case, you possibly can by no means be certain of any participant’s motivation stage when a slam is on the quick horizon. Medvedev and Tsitsipas are on a collision course for the semis within the prime half of the bracket, however neither one is any form of lock to make it that far. Sonego, the 2024 Winston-Salem winner, might capitalize if Medvedev bows out early. As for Tsitsipas, he might have a tough opening match on his fingers towards tough American Jenson Brooksby.
With each Medvedev and Tsitsipas within the prime half, the opposite facet of the draw is very extensive open. Darderi is certainly not at his greatest on exhausting courts, and an entire host of different seeded entrants are borderline clay-court specialists. This needs to be a first-rate alternative for Van de Zandschulp, Quentin Halys, or Mattia Bellucci.
Quarterfinal predictions: Lorenzo Sonego over Fabian Marozsan, Stefanos Tsitsipas over Dino Prizmic, Marcos Giron over Adam Walton, and Botic van de Zandschulp over Quentin Halys
Semifinals: Tsitsipas over Sonego and Van de Zandschulp over Giron
Closing: Van de Zandschulp over Tsitsipas
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and in addition maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You may comply with him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
