Alex Michelsen and Alexei Popyrin will fight against each other in the 2nd round of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Thursday at 8:30 pm on STADIUM COURT. In the following paragraphs, you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Alex Michelsen who should win in 3 sets.
As per the initial odds, Alex Michelsen is the pick to win this match.
Alex Michelsen -> 1.89
Alexei Popyrin -> 1.909
Here where top tennis events are broadcasted or streamed online (ATP, WTA).
At the challenger level, there will be free live streaming on Challenger TV.
Prediction and head to head Alex Michelsen vs. Alexei Popyrin
There is no head to head record between Alex Michelsen and Alexei Popyrin since this will be the first time that they will face off in the main tour.
Alex Michelsen
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 35-20 | 25-10 | 6-7 | 1-1 | 3-2 | 0-0 |
| 2025 | 29-27 | 14-13 | 6-5 | 4-5 | 5-4 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 45-34 | 26-14 | 4-9 | 8-5 | 7-6 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 61-27 | 30-13 | 4-3 | 19-7 | 8-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 23-10 | 14-8 | 0-1 | 9-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 35, Michelsen reached the 2nd round after defeating Chak Lam Coleman Wong 6-4 6-2.
In the 1st round, Michelsen had a good straight sets win against Lam Coleman Wong (6-4 6-2). During the match, Michelsen scored 68 points vs Lam Coleman Wong’s 50. The American was pretty aggressive to blast 23 winners.
Regarding the service games, Michelsen struck 2 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Alex Michelsen was extremely efficient on serve to win 77% (23/30) of his 1st serve and 71% (15/21) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Michelsen broke Lam Coleman Wong 3 times after converting 25% of his break points (3/12).
Michelsen has a solid match record in the last 5 years having won 62% of his matches (171-105). 1-0 on clay in 2026. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this event, Michelsen has an aggregate15-18 match record in the last 5 years on clay.
Michelsen’s best result of the current year was getting to the semifinal in Brisbane.
The American has an overall 13-7 win-loss record in 2026, 1-0 on clay (See FULL STATS).
Previously in Houston
Alexei Popyrin
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 13-23 | 7-13 | 6-6 | 0-1 | 0-3 | 0-0 |
| 2025 | 17-24 | 7-10 | 9-6 | 0-5 | 1-3 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 30-22 | 17-8 | 4-8 | 4-3 | 5-3 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 36-29 | 18-14 | 15-6 | 1-4 | 2-5 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 24-31 | 7-16 | 7-4 | 3-5 | 7-6 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 45, Popyrin got to the 2nd round after defeating Patrick Kypson 4-6 6-4 6-3.
In the 1st round against Kypson, The Australian recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (4-6 6-4 6-3). During the match Popyrin scored 85 points vs Kypson’s 76. Popyrin was extremely aggressive to blast 41 winners.
About the serving games, Popyrin bagged 17 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Overall, Alexei Popyrin was exceptionally efficient on serve to win 84% (41/49) of his 1st serve and 56% (19/34) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve once. The Australian broke Kypson twice after converting 33% of his break points (2/6).
Alexei has an aggregate 3-9 win-loss record in 2026, 1-0 on clay (See FULL STATS).
Previously in Houston
The Australian has never competed in this tournament before.
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H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Michelsen | Popyrin |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 1 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 3 |
| Tot Games | 18 | 29 |
| Pts | 68-50 | 85-76 |
| Total Points | 118 | 161 |
| Winners | 23 | 41 |
| %Winners | 34% | 48% |
Both Michelsen and Popyrin played 1 match. At the moment, Alexei Popyrin conceded 1 set while Alex Michelsen hasn’t surrendered a set so far. Michelsen has played 1 set(s) less than Popyrin (2 vs 3). Therefore, Michelsen played 11 games less than Popyrin. Alex scored 23 winners (34% of the total points). On the other side, Alexei fired 41 winners (48%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Michelsen | Popyrin |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 2 | 17 |
| Avg per match | 2 | 17 |
| 1st in | 30/51 | 49/83 |
| %1st in | 59% | 59% |
| 1st pts | 23/30 | 41/49 |
| %1st pts | 77% | 84% |
| 2nd pts | 15/21 | 19/34 |
| %2nd pts | 71% | 56% |
Michelsen recorded 2 aces . Popyrin made 17 aces . Michelsen won 77% points behind his first serve. He pretty effective on his second serve to win 71% of the points. On the other side, Popyrin won 84% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 56% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Michelsen | Popyrin |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 3 | 2 |
| Converted | 3/12 | 2/6 |
| % Converted | 25% | 33% |
| Conceded | 3 | 3 |
| Saved | 3 | 2 |
| % Saved | 100% | 67% |
| Times Broken | 0 | 1 |
The American broke his opponent 3 times with a 25% conversion rate. The American pretty effective on his serve as he has never dropped a single service game after saving 3 break points. Popyrin broke his opponent twice with a 33% conversion rate. The Australian conceded his serve once and he saved 67% of the break points that he conceded.
| Michelsen | |||
| R1 Lam Coleman Wong |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-4 6-2 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 18 | 18 | |
| pts | 68-50 | 68-50 | |
| Total points | 118 | 118 | |
| Winners | 23 | 23 | |
| %Winners | 34% | 34% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 2 | 2 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 2 | |
| 1st in | 30/51 | 30/51 | |
| % 1st in | 59% | 59% | |
| 1st pts | 23/30 | 23/30 | |
| % 1st pts | 77% | 77% | |
| 2nd pts | 15/21 | 15/21 | |
| % 2nd pts | 71% | 71% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 3 | 3 | |
| Converted | 3/12 | 3/12 | |
| Converted % | 25% | 25% | |
| Conceded | 3 | 3 | |
| Saved | 3/3 | 3 | |
| Saved % | 100% | 100% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | |
| Popyrin | |||
| R1 Kypson |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 4-6 6-4 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 3 | |
| Tot Games | 29 | 29 | |
| pts | 85-76 | 85-76 | |
| Total points | 161 | 161 | |
| Winners | 41 | 41 | |
| %Winners | 48% | 48% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 17 | 17 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 2 | |
| 1st in | 49/83 | 49/83 | |
| % 1st in | 59% | 59% | |
| 1st pts | 41/49 | 41/49 | |
| % 1st pts | 84% | 84% | |
| 2nd pts | 19/34 | 19/34 | |
| % 2nd pts | 56% | 56% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 2 | 2 | |
| Converted | 2/6 | 2/6 | |
| Converted % | 33% | 33% | |
| Conceded | 3 | 3 | |
| Saved | 2/3 | 2 | |
| Saved % | 67% | 67% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 1 | |
Head 2 Head
WWWWWWWWWW
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- Thiago Agustin TiranteAgustin Tirante – Mackenzie McdonaldMcdonald (6-2 6-0) – Stats, scores, rankings
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