Tennis Thursday: Abrams returns to Munich’s BMW Open for more Round of 16 action – Pella v Daniel, Bautista Agut v Molleker

BMW Open by FWU
Munich, Germany
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Round of 16 continues

Guido Pella over Taro Daniel
The past 4-6 weeks, Argentina’s Guido Pella has been playing some of the best tennis on the ATP Tour. He has rolled to a 2019 record of 19-9, captured one title (the Brazil Open in Sao Paulo, Brazil one month ago), and has risen to No. 26 in the world. Pella will be taking on Japan’s Taro Daniel, who slayed 20-year-old Frenchman Ugo Humbert in straight sets on Tuesday. Pella, to his credit, took apart Germany’s Mischa Zverev 2 and 1 in the first round, to add to the older Zverev’s nightmare of a 2019. Because Pella has shown a steady level of excellence, I say the Argentine will exert his dominance over Daniel and run away with this match in two.

Roberto Bautista Agut over Rudolf Molleker
RBA is 15-5 in 2019, and is playing fine tennis. When I think about the talented Spaniard, I like to ponder his somewhat improbable run at this year’s Australian Open in Melbourne when he took out, in succession, Andy Murray, John Millman, Karen Khachanov, and Marin Cilic before he went out to Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 before Tsitsipas bowed out to Nadal in the semis. That run of four wins were some of the best consecutive wins that I’ve seen in 2019, and set the table for the successful run RBA has had so far this calendar year. Here, RBA takes on Rudolf Molleker, an 18-year-old from the Ukraine who lives and trains in Germany. Molleker only shows one official Tour match this year, and only eight for his career, after he took out 79th ranked Romanian Marius Copil in the first round here in Munich. That first round win looks good, but frankly, RBA has too much guts, guile, and game for the young German. RBA will use his experience to set up a Third Round match with the winner of the Pella/Daniel match.