A battle of two up and coming young players on the ATP takes place in the first round at the 2015 US Open when South Korea’s Hyeon Chung takes on the world ranked 95 Australian James Duckworth in what should be a closely fought first round match up.
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Chung, heading into what will be his first US Open, and only his second grand slam at the age of 19 will be keen to put on a show and start to make a name for himself on what is his favourite surface.
After a first round exit earlier this year at Wimbledon, he now takes on the hard courts of the US Open. Playing on the hard courts, Chung has a winning percentage that sits at over 72. This of course, given his age and world ranking mainly comes against lesser or equal ability players, which is a far cry from what he will face if he is good enough to progress during the US Open.
With next to no grand slam history to measure up with, it is also almost impossible to predict how he is going to be able to handle a five set match.
Duckworth, meanwhile in a stark contrast has the hard court as his least favourite surface and traditionally struggles to make anything good happen. With a winning percentage on the hard court of only 54%, 6% under his career average winning percentage it is an element of his game he will have to improve if he ever wants to move up the world rankings.
For Duckworth, this will be his second attempt at the US Open. In 2013, he had a first round exit in his only other appearance. In total he has played 11 grand slams and had seve first round exits, making the second round on four occasions.
Chung and Duckworth have never faced off before, making it impossible to make any judgements based on the past. What we do know is that both players are out to make a name for themselves and get out of the first round. It is an easy enough game, considering what they could be up against and both players will be keen to make the most of the opportunity presented.
Chung is being heavily backed for this contest and it is of little surprise when you factor in recent form and Chung’s love of the hard courts.
Whether Chung or Duckworth take this one out, the second round fixture will be an incredibly tough one with the likelihood of taking on fifth seed Stan Wawrinka, pending his results with Albert-Ramos Vinolas.
Prediction: Duckworth is coming off some ordinary form heading into this game and whilst Chung’s hasn’t been much better he should be able to walk away with the win in a scrappy contest.
Chung in five sets.
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