ATP Cup 2020: Kevin Anderson vs Cristian Garin, Match Preview and Prediction
For the two underdogs in Group A of the ATP Cup 2020, Monday will bring about the best chance of picking up a win and finding some sort of momentum going forward in the tournament. Chile and South Africa will square off against each other, looking to secure their first win in the team tournament.
On paper, the two teams never really stood a realistic chance of qualifying for the knockout stage, but performances of their respective singles players in the opening tie must have raised their hopes.
While Kevin Anderson pushed Serbian Novak Djokovic to tiebreakers in both sets of their match, Cristian Garin showed some fight in the second set of his contest against France's Gael Monfils.
Although neither of the two could pull off an upset, they will take a lot of confidence from these respective performances.
Anderson was particularly impressive in his match against Djokovic, playing his characteristic powerful baseline game. He was strong on serve and pushed Djokovic to the limit in both sets.
If he can continue playing in the same manner, having come off a six-month injury break, Anderson could very well secure some big results this season.
However, his task right now will be to find a way to get past Garin. An emerging clay-court expert, the Chilean has not really featured much on the other surfaces and will be looking to get some much-needed match practice on the Australian hardcourts ahead of the first Slam of the year.
Whether he can keep pace with Anderson's booming serves and groundstrokes remains to be seen.
Prediction: Anderson to win in two sets.
Get the full ATP Cup 2020 Schedule and Results