The ATP St. Petersburg Open 2019 kick-starts on Monday, September 16 with its first round matches. Latest Mikhail Kukushkin v Jannik Sinner & Damir Dzumhur v Lukas Rosol tips and predictions with their previews along with others can be found below.
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Mikhail Kukushkin v Jannik Sinner Preview
Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin plays teenage Italian Jannik Sinner in the opening round at St.Petersburg. This will be their first ever meeting.
Kukushkin has been on the tour for most of the last 10 years, and broke into the top 40 of the rankings only earlier this year. He started the year well on the indoor hard courts in February, and was a St.Petersburg winner at the beginning of this decade. The Kazakh did well to make the second week at Wimbledon, but has otherwise had an erratic season.
Young Italian Jannik Sinner has done well on the Challenger circuit and is in contention for the ATP ‘Next Gen’ year-end finals in Milan. He has sprung onto the circuit this season and proven himself from a very young age. He is currently ranked just outside the top 100 on the ATP circuit and will look to be within the first 100 by the start of next season.
An interesting match on the cards, where although Kukushkin starts as the seasoned favorite, young Sinner may well alter the narrative. Expect a fun battle, with the Kazhak winning in three sets.
Tip: Kukushkin to win in three sets: 3/1 (888Sport)
Damir Dzumhur v Lukas Rosol Preview
2017 St Petersburg champion Damir Dzumhur is up against Czech veteran Lukas Rosol in the last of the St.Petersburg qualifiers. Dzumhur won their only ever meeting.
With a gritty and reliable game, Dzumhur was the 2017 champion at St. Petersburg. However, his form has declined since, dropping out of the top 100.
While he had a decent run on the hard courts this summer, he ran into Roger Federer at the second round of the US Open, which ended his campaign. A better run last week at the New Haven ATP challenger will have helped his confidence.
Rosol has had a very poor last couple seasons with minimal runs of consistency and no signs of recovering from the poor form either. Similar to Dzumhur, the tall Czech has declined in form in recent times, and more so as well.
Dzumhur will be seeking to use the rest of the seasons to get back the levels from 18-24 months ago and will start as a favorite here. Unless the Czech can turn around his recent form quickly, it is unlikely to see him do much of note in the foreseeable future.
A straight win for Dzumhur seems the most likely outcome.
Tip: Dzumhur to win in two sets: 1/1 (888Sport)
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Adrian Mannarino v Stefano Travaglia Preview
Tip: Mannarino to win in two sets: 6/4 (888Sport)