Steve Johnson vs Felix Auger-Aliassime Prediction: Choosing the Outsider

For Auger-Aliassime the upcoming meeting will be the second on hard court after the end of the grass season. Hard is quite a comfortable surface for him, so we expect Felix to improve his game and have a positive result.

Steve Johnson has already played five matches on the hard court after grass. In Atlanta, the American beat Kuzuhara but lost to Gojowczyk and Ivashka. In Mexico, Steve already knocked out Villanueva and Kokkinakis. The overall statistics are positive, but his opponents were not the top ones, at least of the Auger-Aliassime's at this stage. The match against Kokkinakis was a long one, lasting two hours and 49 minutes. The score was 2:1 in favor of Johnson - 6:7, 6:4, 6:4. Obviously, the American's spirit is lifted enough. In terms of statistics, Steve had 12 aces and five doubles winning 75% of his first serve and 64% of his second. On receptions, Johnson's stats were 29%/50%.

For Auger-Aliassime Los Cabos, Mexico is the first hard court tournament in a long time. In addition, the Canadian has not played an official match since the tournament in Newport, where he lost to the Australian Kubler. In Mexico, he played one match and knocked out Hernandez, No. 521. The match lasted exactly two hours, 6:3, 7:5 in favor of Felix. Given the status of the opponent, the victory was a hard-fought one. Auger had 15/6 of aces/doubles, 78% on first serve, 32% on second and 44%/58% on reception.

Considering Johnson's practice and the fact that Auger-Aliassime didn't impress in his first hard-court match, we think that the Canadian will have a tough match. It's clear that Felix outclasses his opponent, but still, his form is in question. The statistics of the first confrontation between Steve and Felix hint that we're in for a long duel and we're not sure that the favorite will win.

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