ATP Munich Day 1 Predictions Including Emilio Nava vs Ben Shelton

After Jannik Sinner secured a first ever Monte Carlo title, the clay court season continues this week with ATP 500 events in Barcelona and Munich. While the Barcelona field looks stronger on paper, Munich also has its fair share of strong clay court players and should be a very entertaining tournament, full of great matches and unpredictable outcomes.

ATP Munich Day 1 Predictions

Botic Van De Zandschulp vs Marc-Andrea Huesler

Head-to-head: Van De Zandschulp 2-0 Huesler

Van de Zandschulp has reached two of his three career finals at this venue, making this easily his best tournament on Tour. Considering how much he enjoys playing in Munich and his previous victories over Huesler, the Dutch should have a significant edge here as he looks to go deep again and perhaps even aim for a first career title.

Prediction: Van de Zandschulp in 2

Alexander Blockx vs Yannick Hanfmann

Head-to-head: Hanfmann 1-0 Blockx

This is a very tough matchup to predict; while Hanfmann is the clearly higher ranked player as of now, Blockx seems to have more upside going forward and he is fresh off an excellent run in Monte Carlo, where he showed the potential to get some good results on clay. All in all, this should be quite a close match, decided by small details and with execution on key points proving to be the deciding factor.
Prediction: Blockx in 3

Emilio Nava vs Ben Shelton

Head-to-head: first meeting

Shelton has been struggling ever since his run to the title in Dallas and clay isn’t expected to be a happy hunting ground for him, even if he did reach the final here in Munich last year. That said, Nava isn’t particularly comfortable on this surface here so in theory this could be a good first round draw for Shelton to find his feet on clay and gain some momentum as he tries to at least repeat last year’s run.
Prediction: Shelton in 3