Alex Michelsen vs Stefanos Tsitsipas Prediction & Picks - ATP Japan Open

Prediction published on 9/25/24, 5:03 AM  by Tyler Doty | Modified on 9/25/24 at 5:06 AM in Tennis Picks

The ATP 500 Tokyo tournament opens this week in Japan! In the first round, American Alex Michelsen takes on top-15 Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the last 8. Alex Michelsen entered this tournament via the qualifying rounds, winning against Yasutaka Uchiyama, ranked 136th in the world, and Borna Coric, ranked 98th in the world. This summer, the American took part in a number of hard-court tournaments and had the most success in Winston-Salem, where he was runner-up to Lorenzo Sonego, ranked 50th in the world, against whom he lost in 64 minutes, winning just 3 games in all. 

For his part, Stefanos Tsitsipas, seeded 4th, played just 4 matches on hard court during the summer and didn't really enjoy any success, losing in the round of 16 in Cincinnati to Jack Draper (20th in the world) or in the first round of the US Open to Thanasi Kokkinakis. In fact, the Greek seems to have returned to promising form this September, having taken his revenge on his Australian opponent by beating him in just 2 sets at the Laver Cup a few days ago. Semi-finalist in Los Cabos on hard court at the beginning of the year, the Greek was also a quarter-finalist in Acapulco and should therefore be more than capable of pulling off a fine performance in this tournament.