Winston-Salem Open: Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Dominik Koepfer 8/25/21 Tennis Prediction

Top seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta will face the 16th seed Dominik Koepfer of Germany in the Round of 16 of the 2021 Winston-Salem Open. The match is scheduled to be played on Wednesday August 25th, 2021 at 3:00pm EST.

Pablo Carreno Busta (PCB) is the main contender for the title here at the 2021 Winston-Salem Open, a position that was strengthened with the withdrawal of second seed David Goffin. The top seeded Spaniard is by far the most decorated player in this draw and will be hoping to claim the title here as he wraps up his US Open preparations. Next up in his path is the sixteenth seeded Dominik Koepfer, can the German cause the massive upset? Or will PCB advance as expected?

Pablo Carreno Busta is ranked #12 on the ATP Tour and is the number one seed here at the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina. The Spaniard is one of the most consistent players on the Tour and will be delighted to be back on the American hard courts as he has had considerable success here. This is the final warm-up event ahead of the US Open, where he famously reached the Semi-Finals in 2020, where he was up two sets to love before losing to eventual Finalist Alexander Zverev. He had a difficult start to this event, and was pushed to three sets by the talented Soonwoo Kwon in the Second Round. While he will have been delighted to have come away with the confidence-boosting victory he knows that he will have to improve if he is to win the title here. His aggressive yet consistent baseline style is perfectly suited for this surface, and he is one of the biggest fighters on the ATP Tour. It is usually necessary to hit through him to defeat him, something that doesn’t happen often at these lower level events.

Dominik Koepfer is unseeded here at the 2021 Winston-Salem Open and is ranked #56 in the world. Like his opponent Pablo Carreno Busta, Koepfer had a rough start to his campaign this week, having to come from a set down to defeat Italian veteran Marco Cecchinato. The German was in serious trouble midway through the match but showed tremendous resilience to fight back and claim the win, and will have taken a lot of confidence from that victory. He has been in inconsistent form lately and would like nothing more than to go on a deep run here, but he has run into a difficult draw and will face the world number 12 PCB here for a spot in the Quarter-Finals. Koepfer is the massive underdog here and it will take the match of his life to make this competitive.

The two men played each other last week in Cincinnati, with PCB coming away with a 6-4, 6-2 win. He was in complete control there, and I am expecting more of the same this time around at the Winston-Salem Open. Koepfer is simply not on the same level as the Spaniard, and PCB always produces his big tennis during and around the bigger events, so it is unlikely that he will suffer an upset here. PCB is the better player in every area, and Dominik Koepfer lacks the firepower that is needed to pose a challenge here. Pablo Carreno Busta will win in straight sets, advancing to the Quarter-Finals here at the 2021 Winston-Salem Open.