The cinch Championships continues this week in London as defending champion Carlos Alcaraz faces British No. 1 Jack Draper and Lorenzo Musetti goes up against Lorenzo Musetti. Damien Kayat previews the action.
2024 ATP Tour – ATP 500
Cinch Championships
The Queen’s Club
Selected Ro16 matches – 20 June
Carlos Alcaraz 26/100 | Jack Draper 28/10
This has the potential to be the most exciting pre-Wimbledon grass-court match this season, with French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz coming up against newly-crowned British No.1 Jack Draper.
What a time to be Carlos Alcaraz. The Spanish superstar cemented his burgeoning greatness with a gutsy victory at Roland Garros, becoming the youngest man in the Open Era to win the so-called ‘Surface Slam’.
The Spaniard returned to action this week, picking up a fairly routine straight-sets win against clay-court specialist Francisco Cerundolo. And why wouldn’t he look completely comfortable out there?
He romped home to victory in this event last season, claiming his maiden grass-court title in what was a harbinger of things to come at SW19. I think his victory last year was massive, giving him the confidence that he could compete with the likes of Djokovic on grass.
His win against Cerundolo improved his grass-court winning streak to 13 matches and it is going to take something spectacular to stop him this week.
Jack Draper may be exactly the man to provide the spectacular this week. The British lefty just enjoyed the greatest moment of his career, winning his maiden ATP Tour title in Stuttgart to underline his coronation as British No.1.
He battled past grizzled grass-court veteran Matteo Berrettini in the final, showcasing an amazing repertoire of shot-making. He served amazingly all week but was also able to mix it up with delicious drop-shots.
Draper needed that result to remind the tennis world why he has been consistently earmarked as a future top-five prospect. Draper has been dogged by injury in his young career, having to withdraw from this year’s Acapulco semi-finals due to an unspecified illness.
So, there is always a chance that Draper’s body could fail him as he looks to compete for a second successive week. He will obviously enjoy insane home support as he looks to take down the Alcaraz juggernaut.
The Verdict: Alcaraz to win in three at 26/10
Alcaraz has won both their previous meetings (though Draper was forced to withdraw while trailing in their Indian Wells meeting last year). I think that Draper will pose some problems for Alcaraz.
That whippy lefty serve could rush the otherwise unflappable Alcaraz. I think Draper may nick an early set but Alcaraz will grow into the match and should outlast a battle-weary Draper in three.
Lorenzo Musetti 71/100 | Brandon Nakashima 11/10
This promises to be a tantalizing match between two players in decent grass-court nick. 22-year-old NextGen prospect Lorenzo Musetti hasn’t evolved at the pace of contemporaries such as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Musetti looked destined to be a top 10 player after picking up his first two titles back in 2022 (actually beating Alcaraz in the Hamburg final). But inconsistency has dogged him in recent times and he came into this event with a pretty humdrum 14-16 record this year.
Things never got off to a great start against Libema Open champion Alex Di Minaur and he looked well on course for defeat. But the Italian changed things around in magnificent style, turning up the aggression in a fearsome hitting display to upset the in-form Aussie.
It was really a continuation of the fine grass-court form that saw him reach the semi-finals in Stuttgart last week. Musetti has really upped the aggression these last few weeks and seems to be more and more willing to come to the net to condense points.
It’s easy to forget that Brandon Nakashima is still just 22 years of age. He seems to have been around forever and his form has proven quite volatile in his young career.
He doesn’t possess any monumental weapons but he is an arch-competitor with excellent footwork and court speed. He edged his way back into the top 100 after winning the Tenerife Challenger at the beginning of the year.
His form dipped after that (though he did pick up an incredible victory over Rublev in Barcelona). But the American has suddenly burst into life on grass, with back-to-back semi-final runs at the Surbiton Trophy and the Stuttgart Open.
He met Dan Evans in his Queens opener, ultimately benefitting from a 3rd set withdrawal from the Brit. Nakashima reached the 4th round at Wimbledon back in 2022 and he clearly seems comfortable on these surfaces.
The Verdict: Musetti to win in straight sets 33/20
This will be their first career meeting. I just can’t look past Musetti’s performance against an in-form de Minaur. He looked far more comfortable when adopting an aggressive strategy and I think he has the variety to easily see off the American.
Musetti is comfortable coming to the net and will destabilize Nakashima’s baseline-orientated game.
