Neither one nor the other?

Between Altmaier who only ever gets his ass kicked and Lajovic the LL who just took an MTO in qualies, I don’t feel like betting on anyone!

In his defense, Altmaier didn't play too badly against JM Cerundolo, and the Argentine is just horrible to play against. I don't want to be too harsh on him for that loss because it wasn't as awful as it might look! Now we have to admit that he keeps losing and taking very one-sided scorelines, it's hard to trust him. It's his first time playing Rio, the rather heavy and humid conditions don't really inspire confidence for his game, but on the other side of the net he'll have a player who's fairly comfortable to play against, the pace isn't as tricky as JM Cerundolo's.

I'm talking about Lajovic, the Serb has a good track record in this tournament with some memorable wins, but he failed in qualifying this time… To be fair, it was against the local Monteiro, a real trap of a qualies match. Apparently Lajo took an MTO for a shoulder/upper back issue? Hard to know how seriously he's injured or if it's nothing, anyway he’s got a second chance. He's down 3–0 in the head-to-head against Altmaier, but on clay, I don’t really know what we can take from that.

We’ve got two one-handed backhands here, I find Altmaier more talented but more fragile mentally. His level can be twice as good as Lajovic’s, but he hasn’t played his best tennis in a long time, just like Lajo. Not an obvious match to call, I’d still make Altmaier the favorite, but yeah…