Hamburg Open 2022: Carlos Alcaraz vs. Filip Krajinovic Tennis Pick and Prediction

TennisSection previews the 2022 Hamburg Open as Carlos Alcaraz takes on Filip Krajinovic in the second round on Thursday, July 21st, 2022.

After narrowly escaping the shackles of Nicola Kuhn in his opener, Carlos Alcaraz faces a stern test of his title credentials at the Hamburg Open when he takes on Filip Krajinovic. Will the top-seeded Spaniard prevail?

Carlos Alcaraz’s debut appearance at the Hamburg Open did not begin as comfortably as he would have liked, but the young Spaniard should be delighted he was able to advance into the second round unscathed. Alcaraz was under huge pressure to deliver right out of the gate in northern Germany. He is the top seed and tournament favorite this week, but was second best in the first set against 22-year-old Nicolas Kuhn. Kuhn who is three years older than Alcaraz sensed that the ATP’s world No. 6 will be vulnerable during the early stages having been resting up since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon. But Alcaraz shook off the cobwebs that held him back and played with panache in the next two sets, holding his nerve in the key moments to win in three sets.

Filip Krajinovic, for his part, scored a shock win over Argentina’s clay-court specialist Sebastian Baez. As predicted in our last preview, Baez was likely to crack when the match went the distance having just been to a final in Bastad a couple of days ago. But he was slightly unfortunate that he spurned two match points, gifting his Serbian opponent the win. Krajinovic, who reached last year’s final at the Hamburg Open, will face the ultimate test when he takes on the top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz.

Carlos Alcaraz leads Filip Krajinovic 1-0 in their head-to-headmeetings on the ATP Tour. That match was played on the clay courts of Umag last season, in a tournament Alcaraz went on to win his first ATP tour title. Could it be a case of déjà vu at the Hamburg Open? Possibly. Alcaraz is enjoying the sort of breakthrough that draws similarities to the likes of Nadal and Djokovic when they grew up. I expect the 19-year-old to claw his way past the Serb.