CTK Photo/Pavel Lebeda

Alexei Popyrin vs Jakub Mensik: ATP Antwerp – Final

Alexei Popyrin will take on Jakub Mensik in the opening round of ATP Vienna.

Alexei Popyrin Profile

Alexei Popyrin is 25th in the ATP rankings, two spots lower than his career high. The Australian is 29-21 for the season and will play his first indoor match of the year.

Popyirn is coming off a 7-6, 6-2 loss to Grigor Dimitrov in the third round in Shanghai.

He won the title in Montreal this year, the biggest in his career.

Popyrin never made it past the first round in his previous two appearances in Vienna.

Jakub Mensik Profile

Jakub Mensik has the highest ranking of his career being No. 51 in the world. The player from the Czech Republic is 38-22 for the season and 2-0 in indoor matches.

He had to go through the qualifiers in Vienna and defeated Alexandre Muller and Alexander Ritchard.

He made it to two finals this season and lost to Dominik Koepfer in Canberra and Karen Khachanov in Doha.

This is his first appearance in Vienna.

Head-to-Head Mensik leads 1-0

• Mensik vs Popyrin 6-3, 6-2 (2024 ATP Umag, first round)

Prediction and Conclusion

Alexei Popyrin is having the best year of his career. First, he won the tournament in Montreal and then defeated Novak Djokovic at the US Open. Jakub Mensik is still looking for his spot in the ATP tour, and the 19-year-old is doing a great job being on the verge of the top 50. He went through the qualifiers in Vienna, which gives him a certain advantage over Popyrin, who has never won a match here. Mensik won their first match in Umag this season quite easily, and even though that one was played on clay, it clearly shows he is the better among these two. So, regardless of the lack of experience, we go with Mensik to win this one.