Carlos Alcaraz vs Jack Draper Prediction: Carlos to Fight for the Lead

The first racket of the world and, of course, the Basel tournament, Carlos Alcaraz in the first round of this competition will face Jack Draper, No. 45 of the ATP ranking. The guys have not crossed paths with each other, and Alcaraz is quoted as the predicted favorite.

After the Davis Cup, Carlos played only one match at a tournament in Astana, where he lost to Goffin in two games. Since then we have not seen the young Spaniard on the court, and it's been three weeks. Now we can only guess at his condition. We can only note the fact that Alcaraz's ranking is firmly secured. But there are still two major tournaments ahead: the Masters in Paris and the Turin Open, so we shouldn't predict that Carlos will retain his lead at the end of the season.

After the third round at the US Open, Draper played only one tournament. Last week, Jack visited Antwerp, where he beat American Brooksby in two sets, but in the second round, he lost to Pole Hurkacz in three games. The match against the latter was quite long, although the Briton was enough for the third set. The first two games were tie-breaks, and the game lasted two hours and 37 minutes. At the same time, Draper made only five aces and two double faults.

Despite Alcaraz's lack of practice, we predict that the Spaniard will get a solid win over the Briton on Monday. There is not much time left until the end of the season, except for the tournament in Basel, the Masters in Paris and the Final. And it is important for the Spaniard to win one of the major tournaments to keep the top ranking for 2023. So it is important for Alcaraz to get that very practice in Switzerland. And Draper is far from a top-notch performer, with set, but not killer serve.

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