Much of the ATP tour heads back to European clay after Wimbledon with Monday’s Umag lineup featuring a pair of players from Czechia. Jakub Mensik will take on Alexei Popyrin, while Tomas Machac battles Thiago Monteiro.

Jakub Mensik vs. Alexei Popyrin

Czechia’s Jakub Mensik had his first breakthrough tournament earlier this season in Doha. The 18-year-old came from out of nowhere to make the final, with upset wins over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Andy Murray, and Andrey Rublev before finally falling to champion Karen Khachanov. His season since then has been a little less successful and he is currently off his career high-ranking of 65th at world No. 79. Still, Mensik has the right ingredients for success; he just needs a bit more consistency to carry out his plan.

Alexei Popyrin will likely go into this match with confidence. The Aussie got to the third round of Wimbledon and pushed finalist Novak Djokovic before going down in four sets. The problem is that he’s been absolutely miserable on the dirt this year. The 24-year-old is 2-5 on clay in 2024, with both wins coming at the Monte-Carlo Masters. He lost in the opener of his other four events.

Look for Mensik to take advantage of Popyrin’s current struggles on clay to get the victory in this first-ever encounter with Popyrin.

Cheryl pick: Mensik in 2

Ricky pick: Popyrin in 2

(7) Tomas Machac vs. Thiago Monteiro

Mensik’s Czechia countryman, Tomas Machac, has had a breakout season this year. He made an impressive run to the quarterfinals at the Miami Masters and then rolled to the final in Geneva, where he ultimately lost to Casper Ruud. He notably beat Novak Djokovic in his run to the Geneva final. Machac is 19-11 for the season and has played well on clay so far.

Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro is a tricky first-round opponent. He’s ranked 85th in the world and he struggles some on surfaces outside of clay, but he is a good clay-courter and may well give Machac some trouble on Monday. Notably, after Monteiro successfully qualified for the Rome Masters, he made his way to the round of 16–where he lost to Zhizhen Zhang.

Look for this first-ever H2H contest to be an entertaining battle. Machac is more consistent with better weapons, so he should make his way through–but not without some trouble.

Cheryl pick: Machac in 3

Ricky pick: Machac in 3