Jannik Sinner vs Alex Michelsen - US Open Tennis Prediction and Pick 8/29/24

Jannik Sinner kicked off his 2024 US Open campaign with a come-from-behind victory over American Mackenzie McDonald. Sinner entered the match with the monkey off his back after he was cleared by the ITIA over two failed drug tests in March.

After a slow start to the match in which he lost a set and dropped his serve to begin the second set, Sinner summoned his best tennis to overcome McDonald for the fourth time in their series. He won 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in roughly two and a half hours. In the victory, he tallied 11 aces to five double adults and landed 55% first serves. Sinner won 75% of first-serve points (39/52) and 50% of second-serve points (21/42). Overall he hammered 38 winners to 29 unforced errors.

Alex Michelsen picked up his second-ever main draw win at the US Open, beating fellow American Eliot Spizzirri, who came through qualifying and upset Brazilian teen prodigy Joao Fonseca to get here.

But Michelsen showed why he'd made tremendous progress on the ATP Tour this year, having reached two finals already, including one most recently in Winston-Salem. Michelsen needed two hours to complete a dominant 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 victory where he finished with 23 winners to unforced errors and converting nine of 13 break points.

Jannik Sinner vs Alex Michelsen Head-To-Head

• Sinner leads Michelsen 1-0 in their head-to-head, winning their lone meeting at the 2024 Cincinnati Open in straight sets.

Jannik Sinner vs Alex Michelsen Prediction

Michelsen pushed Sinner in their match in Cincinnati just two weeks ago, and the Italian didn't look particularly comfortable for about a set in his match against McDonald before he raised his level. I expect more of the same here, with Michelsen going toe to toe with the top seed, but he just won't have a good enough level to sustain the barrage of big hitting coming his way.