Alex Michelsen and Christopher O Connell will clash against each other in the 2^nd round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships for the 1^st time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 1:30 pm on COLOSSEUM. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Alex Michelsen who should win in 2 sets.

As per the initial odds, Alex Michelsen is the pick to win this match.
Alex Michelsen -> 1.35
Christopher O Connell -> 3.2

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Prediction and head to head Alex Michelsen vs. Christopher O Connell

There is no head to head record between Alex Michelsen and Christopher O Connell since this will be the first time that they will square off in the main tour.

Alex Michelsen

Ranked no. 49, the American got to the 2^nd round after beating Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3 6-4, Borna Coric 6-3 6-3 and Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6 6-1 6-2.

In the 1^st round against Tsitsipas, The American recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (4-6 6-1 6-2). During the match, Michelsen scored 80 points vs Tsitsipas’s 57. Alex was very aggressive to blast 32 winners.

Talking about the service games, Michelsen recorded 9 aces and he was quite steady in conceding no double faults. Alex Michelsen lost the serve twice and he saved 1 break points. Furthermore, Michelsen put 65% of his first serves in, winning 70% (32/46) of the points behind his 1st serve and 68% (17/25) on the 2nd serve. Alex was clinical in his return game without wasting any break point and break Tsitsipas 5 times.

Michelsen has a solid record in the last 3 years having won 65% of his matches (120-65). 24-12 on hard in 2024. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this event, Michelsen has a compiled68-33 match record in the last 3 years on hard.

The American’s best result of the current year was getting to the final in Newport and Salem.

Alex has a composed 36-28 win-loss record in 2024, 24-12 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in Tokyo

Alex has never competed in this tournament before.

Christopher O Connell

Ranked no. 79, Christopher got to the 2^nd round after defeating Otto Virtanen 6-4 6-4, Taro Daniel 6-3 7-5 and Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4 7-6(5).

In the 1^st round, O had a good straight sets win against Etcheverry (6-4 7-6⁵). During the match O scored 94 points vs Etcheverry’s 92. Christopher was quite aggressive to blast 45 winners.

About the serving games, O fired 8 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Christopher O Connell lost the serve once and he saved 9 break points. Furthermore, O put 55% of his first serves in, winning 80% (45/56) of the points behind his 1st serve and 33% (15/45) on the 2nd serve. O broke Etcheverry twice after converting 25% of his break points (2/8).

His best result of the season was conquering the title the Guangzhou Challenger where he beat Sho Shimabukuro in the final 1-6 7-5 7-6(5).

The Australian has an overall 25-19 win-loss record in 2024, 23-14 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in Tokyo

Previously, his best result was reaching the 1^st round in 2023. See his history.

H2H Performance in the tournament

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Michelsen	O
Match played	3	3
Tot Set	7	6
Tot Games	62	64
Pts	203-147	230-203
Total Points	350	433
Winners	90	109
%Winners	44%	47%

Both Michelsen and O played 3 matches. Also both players started their run from the qualifications.At the moment, Alex Michelsen dropped 1 set while Christopher O Connell hasn’t lost a set so far. Michelsen has played 1 set more than O (7 vs 6). However, it’s interesting to notice that Michelsen played 2 games less than O. Michelsen scored 90 winners (44% of the total points). On the other side, O made 109 winners (47%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Michelsen	O
Aces	17	25
Avg per match	5.7	8.3
1st in	116/175	137/229
%1st in	66%	60%
1st pts	90/116	109/137
%1st pts	78%	80%
2nd pts	37/59	44/92
%2nd pts	63%	48%

Michelsen blasted 17 aces (5.7 per match). O scored 25 aces (8.3 per match). Michelsen won 78% points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 63% of the points. On the other side, O won 80% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 48% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Michelsen	O
Won	10	6
Converted	10/17	6/15
% Converted	59%	40%
Conceded	5	15
Saved	3	14
% Saved	60%	93%
Times Broken	2	1

Michelsen broke his opponents 10 times with a 59% conversion rate. Alex dropped his serve twice and he saved 60% of the break points that he conceded. Christopher broke his opponents 6 times with a 40% conversion rate. Christopher conceded his serve once and he saved 93% of the break points that he conceded.

Michelsen
	Q1 Uchiyama	Q3 Coric	R1 Tsitsipas	Total
Score	6-3 6-4	6-3 6-3	4-6 6-1 6-2
Tot Set	2	2	3	7
Tot Games	19	18	25	62
pts	59-46	64-44	80-57	203-147
Total points	105	108	137	350
Winners	30	28	32	90
%Winners	51%	44%	40%	44%
SERVE
Aces	5	3	9	17
Double Faults	2	0	0	2
1st in	34/52	36/52	46/71	116/175
% 1st in	65%	69%	65%	66%
1st pts	30/34	28/36	32/46	90/116
% 1st pts	88%	78%	70%	78%
2nd pts	10/18	10/16	17/25	37/59
% 2nd pts	56%	63%	68%	63%
Breaks
Won	2	3	5	10
Converted	2/5	3/7	5/5	10/17
Converted %	40%	43%	100%	59%
Conceded	0	2	3	5
Saved	0/0	2/2	1/3	3
Saved %	–	100%	33%	44%
Times Broken	0	0	2	2

O
	Q1 Virtanen	Q3 Daniel	R1 Etcheverry	Total
Score	6-4 6-4	6-3 7-5	6-4 7-65
Tot Set	2	2	2	6
Tot Games	20	21	23	64
pts	56-49	80-62	94-92	230-203
Total points	105	142	186	433
Winners	26	38	45	109
%Winners	46%	48%	48%	47%
SERVE
Aces	5	12	8	25
Double Faults	0	1	2	3
1st in	33/55	48/73	56/101	137/229
% 1st in	60%	66%	55%	60%
1st pts	26/33	38/48	45/56	109/137
% 1st pts	79%	79%	80%	80%
2nd pts	15/22	14/25	15/45	44/92
% 2nd pts	68%	56%	33%	48%
Breaks
Won	2	2	2	6
Converted	2/2	2/5	2/8	6/15
Converted %	100%	40%	25%	40%
Conceded	1	4	10	15
Saved	1/1	4/4	9/10	14
Saved %	100%	100%	90%	97%
Times Broken	0	0	1	1

Tennis Scores in Tokyo

• Ben SheltonShelton – Mariano NavoneNavone (6-4 6-3) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Ugo HumbertHumbert – Brandon NakashimaNakashima (6-3 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Jack DraperDraper – Hubert HurkaczHurkacz (6-4 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Arthur FilsFils – Matteo BerrettiniBerrettini (6-7⁵ ret.) – Stats, scores, rankings

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Jordan ThompsonThompson – Kei NishikoriNishikori (1-2) – H2H and prediction
• Yoshihito NishiokaNishioka – Holger Vitus Nodskov RuneVitus Nodskov Rune (1-1) – H2H and prediction
• Christopher O ConnellO Connell – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Tommy PaulPaul – Tomas MachacMachac (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Ugo HumbertHumbert – Jack DraperDraper (0-0) – H2H and prediction