The 2025 Houston Open continues on Wednesday, April 2 as Alejndro Tabilo, Tommy Paul and Ethan Quinn take to court for their second round matches. Get the best predictions and tips for the day from ATP Houston Open 2025.
Colton Smith v Ethan Quinn
Ethan Quinn entered this tournament as a wildcard and then came back from a set down to upset Jordan Thompson – something we saw coming. He will now take on his fellow American and qualifier Colton Smith who was involved with another Aussie in his opener, James Duckworth, and this this proved to be a straightforward 6-2, 6-2 for him.
What’s interesting to note here is that Smith is 22 years old and hasn’t been around for too long – reaching his first Challenger final only last. And as far as playing on clay is concerned, Smith had never featured in any red dirt competition before this – at any level.
So far, he has won three rounds including two in the qualifiers and done that without dropping a set.
Not that Quinn has played too much on clay – he had a few Futures matches under his belt from 2022 and a few Challengers last year. Before he sent Thompson packing from the opener here, Quinn hadn’t won a main draw clay court match at this level either.
Given the clean nature of Smith’s wins in this tournament so far, we believe he could take down Quinn in this one.
Smith v Quinn Tip: Smith to win: 4/6
Alejandro Tabilo v Jenson Brooksby
World number 32 Alejandro Tabilo has a good chance to make it to the quarterfinals of this event for the first time in his career but more vitally he will hope to win his first match on clay this season.
Having played at the Argentina Open, Rio Open and Santiago Open, Tabilo’s 0-3 win-loss on clay is rather startling. As is his overall 2-8 record for the season, which has meant that Tabilo’s ranking has taken a tumble from his career-best of 19th in the world to his current 32nd.
The good news for Tabilo despite the aforementioned record is he would feel a lot more at home on clay than on any other surfaces and will be up against a player who is himself trying to get back to his original winning ways.
Jenson Brooksby overcame Taro Daniel in straight sets to make it to the second round but at a rank out outside the top 500, he is a long way off from his career-best of 33rd.
In his first clay court competition since 2022, Brooksby seems to have done well enough to reach this far despite starting out as a qualifier. Now to take down a woefully out of form top-40 player?
Tabilo v Brooksby Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/5
Tommy Paul v Cristian Garin
In a battle between the world number 13 and the 133rd-ranked player you would expect a head to head that would favour the former. That’s not the case here.
These two players have faced off four times across different levels of tennis and Garin leads 3-1 including 2-0 on the clay courts of French Open in 2022 and Rome in 2023.
Paul would like to change that, as much as he would like to kick-start his clay court journey for the season with a win. Paul’s performances on clay haven’t been top-notch, at least in comparison with the other surfaces and his best showing at the French Open has been a third round appearance at the 2024 edition – an indicator he can do much better but the fact that he seems to be coming into his own there.
Garin is born to play on clay. He has won 17 titles – five at the highest level and 12 on the Challenger and Futures circuits – and all of them have come on this surface. Following his Australian Open appearance this season, Garin has featured in six tournaments, of which four have been on clay.
He entered this second round with a straight-set win over Alexander Ritschard and will prove to be a big test for Paul here.
Paul v Garin Tip: Over 20.5 games in the match: 5/6
Other Houston Open 2025 Predictions for the Day
- Corentin Denolly v Aleksandar Kovacevic: Three sets in the match: 6/5
