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PREVIEW: 2024 ATP Tour – Stockholm Open – Selected RO 32 matches

The Stockholm Open continues this week as Brandon Nakashima faces Stan Wawrinka while Cameron Norrie goes up against Miomir Kecmanovic in the round of 32. Damien Kayat previews.

Brandon Nakashima of the USA in action during his second round match against Lorenzo Musetti of Italy at the Queen's Club tennis tournament in London.

The Stockholm Open continues this week as Brandon Nakashima faces Stan Wawrinka while Cameron Norrie goes up against Miomir Kecmanovic in the round of 32. Damien Kayat previews.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

2024 ATP Tour – ATP 250
Stockholm Open
The Royal Tennis
Selected RO 32 matches – 15 October

Brandon Nakashima 34/100 | Stan Wawrinka 22/10

23-year-old Brandon Nakashima has enjoyed an impressive comeback season. The American had an injury-affected 2023 campaign that saw him plummet outside the 150 in the world rankings.

But Nakashima worked his way back to form, playing plenty of tennis at Challenger level in the early portion of this season (winning one title and finishing runner-up twice). New coach Davide Sanguinette has helped him improve his forehand and serve, adding some firepower to his high-octane brand of tennis.

He slowly started to regain traction on the tour, reaching the semifinals in Stuttgart before a 3rd round showing at SW19. He carried on that impressive form on the North American hardcourt circuit, picking up back-to-back round of 16 finishes in Montreal and Cincinnati.

He would then go on to reach 4th round of a slam for only the 2nd time in his career, beating the likes of Rune and Musetti en route to the final 16 in New York. He started the Asian swing in a similarly impressive fashion, reaching the semifinals in Hangzhou before taking down Tiafoe in Japan. He was dumped out of Shanghai by Watanuki and he will be keen to rediscover his winning touch.

This has been a tough old campaign for three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. The 39-year-old Swiss star is currently 5-13 for the season (he is yet to win back-to-back tour matches all year). He has been coy about the possibility of retirement.

I personally don’t understand why he is still playing; it would be one thing if he was having a Monfils-type season. But he has been too strong a competitor to be happy with a 5-13 record. Maybe he will look to sign off in front of his home fans at next week’s Swiss Indoors.

To be fair, the durable Swiss did look somewhat rejuvenated in Shanghai, diffusing the extreme power of Mpetshi Perricard before a gallant three-set defeat to the up-and-coming Coboli. Wawrinka is one of the most elegant players in the world but time catches up to every man (just ask Rafa and Roger).

The Verdict: Wawrinka to win in three 54/10

Wawrinka actually leads the head-to-head 2-0, winning their most recent meeting at last year’s Cincinnati Open. I have a feeling that Wawrinka could surprise this week.

I believe he is bracing himself for retirement. In that case, he will probably leave it all out there in this latter portion of the season. Nakashima has played a bucketload of tennis this year and he is fresh off a dispiriting defeat in Shanghai.

Cameron Norrie 81/100 | Miomir Kecmanovic 97/100

Cameron Norrie has had an incredibly difficult campaign. The 29-year-old Brit has been one of the most fierce competitors on tour for the past three years or so, overcoming his lack of explosive artillery through a psychotic work ethic and amazing powers of recovery.

But I think his tremendous workload is starting to take a toll. He has been riddled with injuries this year, missing almost the entirety of the North American hardcourt series due to a forearm issue. His form had already started to taper off in the early part of the season: he was leapfrogged by Jack Draper as British No.1.

The injury has set him back further and this will be his first tour-level match since July. Norrie did play some competitive tennis last week, going out in the quarterfinals of the Challenger Roanne in France.

This has been yet another frustrating campaign for Serb Miomir Kecmanovic. The former Junior Bowl champion and junior No.1 has all the tools to be in the upper echelons of the game. He just sometimes lacks in self-belief, getting down on himself and sinking his own performances.

In fact, Kecmanovic is yet to register a semifinal all season, compiling a humdrum 20-26 record for the year. He has actually played some of his best tennis at Grand Slam level, reaching the 4th round of the Aussie Open and the 3rd round at Wimbledon.

Kecmanovic does have some credentials in Stockholm, reaching the semifinals here last year. He soundly beat Hikijata in Shanghai before running into an inspired Alexie Popyrin. He could do with a solid outing in his quest to climb back into the top 50 in the current world rankings.

The Verdict: Kecmanovic to win in three 7/2

Norrie leads the head-to-head 3-0. In the past, the Serb has struggled to come to terms with Norrie’s lefty serve. Having said that, the Brit has played very little high-quality tennis of late.

Kecmanovic will look to exploit that lack of fine-tuning and could prevail in three.

Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in action.
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