Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the ATP Beijing match.
In the first round of the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing, second seed Carlos Alcaraz will face the rising star of French and world tennis, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Will there be an upset?
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
The Frenchman is only in his second year on the ATP circuit but has already won his first title, an ATP 250 event in Lyon on clay this year, and reached the fourth round of Wimbledon 2024. Just at the end of last year, Giovanni wasn’t even in the top 200 (205), and now he’s ranked 51. While his successes have come on other surfaces, Mpetshi Perricard prefers fast hard courts.
Carlos Alcaraz
This season has been a mixed bag for Carlos Alcaraz. Despite successes like his Wimbledon win and an Olympic silver medal, the first half of the year was marred by injuries and subsequent discomfort. His summer and autumn North American tour didn’t go smoothly either. The Spaniard didn’t get past the second round in either the Cincinnati Masters or the US Open. Positive changes have only come in the past few weeks: he helped the Spanish team win their group in the Davis Cup and secured three crucial points for Team Europe in the Laver Cup against American Taylor Fritz (7) (6:2, 7:5).
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs Carlos Alcaraz Prediction
The two players haven’t faced each other before. While the bookmakers see the Spaniard as the clear favourite, we believe the young Frenchman is dangerous and still an unknown quantity. Carlos Alcaraz will win on class, but we don’t think it will be by a large margin, so we’ll back him with a small handicap.