World no. 188 Lloyd Harris of South Africa will meet world no. 78 Max Purcell of Australia in the first round of the 2023 ATP Cincinnati Masters on Monday, August 14. Get the predictions and odds of this Lloyd Harris v Max Purcell match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Lloyd Harris v Max Purcell Head to Head
This will be a first tour level meeting between the two. Harris won their only lower level meeting in three sets in 2017.
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Harris Looking for Consistency
Last year, he pulled out of the season in June because of a wrist injury. This year, he has made a comeback but has played little at the tour level.
The 26-year-old is 5-8 on the tour this year, but overall he has a 23-16 record across levels. Harris’ best came in Mallorca in June, when he went on to reach the semifinal of the tournament.
He also reached one final and two semifinals at the Challenger level this year.
The South African, who was a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Open two years ago, was a quarterfinalist at the Cary Challenger last week. At the tour level, he most recently reached the second round in Atlanta and fell in the opening round in Washington.
Harris has entered the tournament using protected ranking. He has played in Cincinnati twice before, losing in the first round in 2020 and in the second round in 2021.
How far can he go this year?
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Purcell Qualifies With Back-to-Back Comeback Wins
World no. 78 Max Purcell made it to the main draw with back-to-back comeback wins in the qualifying rounds.
First, he defeated France’s Luca Van Assche 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first qualifying round and then the Australian ousted compatriot Alexei Popyrin 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the second qualifying round on Sunday.
The 25-year-old, who also qualified for Toronto last week, had ended a six-match losing streak in the main draws with a straight sets win over Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round. But he could not go beyond the second round in Toronto as he went down to Andy Murray in three.
Purcell has displayed good form at the Challenger level, reaching six finals, all on hard courts and winning three of them in Chennai, Bangalore and Pune.
At the tour level, he is 3-9 in 2023. Having shown gutsy performances in the qualifying rounds he will look to carry that form to the main draw.
Harris v Purcell Prediction and Tip
This is going to be a close one. Harris has had an up-and-down run since his return from injury, while Purcell was great against Auger-Aliassime in Toronto and is coming off back-to-back gritty performances. Expect this to go the distance with the more experienced Harris just edging through.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Harris to win: 1/2
- Moderate Risk Tip: Over 26.5 games in the match: 4/5
The 2023 ATP Cincinnati Open will be played from August 13 to 20. You can get all the tennis betting news with our tennis betting blog here. Also get rest of the tennis match previews here.
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