Debutant Tennys Sandgren clashes with wild card Aslan Karatsev in this first round fixture of the 2020 St. Petersburg Open. The match is scheduled to begin at around 1 pm local time (11 am BST or 6 am Eastern Time) on Monday, October 12. Get the live streaming options of this Tennys Sandgren v Aslan Karatsev match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Tennys Sandgren v Aslan Karatsev Head to Head
This will be the first meeting between the two players, with no prior matchups ever. Tennys Sandgren comes into the match ranked 47th in the ATP rankings, and has a satisfactory 196-131 record on hard surfaces, and an even better 58-36 on indoor hard surfaces; although he’s lost his only indoor hard match of the year, leaving his current 2020 record at 0-1.
Aslan Karatsev comes into the match ranked 116th; his best career ranking ever. He also has a positive 113-59 win record on hard courts, though his record on indoor hard surfaces is a below-average 69-56. His 2020 record on the surface, however, is a better representation, with a current 3-1 win record.
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Tennys Sandgren Hoping to Capitalize on His Favorites Tag
After suffering an unexpected second-round loss in the French Open, Sandgren will be wary of his description as the favorite of this upcoming matchup. He lost in straight sets to Daniel Elahi Galán in that 2nd round match, a tournament lucky loser, and will be looking to avoid the mistakes that he made then.
Now he returns on one of his better-performing surfaces and will hope to capitalize on this. Despite it being his debut at the tournament, he’ll be confident of getting past the first round, something he’s only ever done twice in 6 ATP 500 tournaments.
His third round berth in the 2017 Washington Open was his best ever ATP 500 finish, but since then he’s gained a lot of experience at different levels.
Sandgren made it to two ATP finals in 2018 and 2019, winning one of them, the 2019 Auckland Open.
He may have had some unexpected losses since then, but some of his performances this year have shown that he’s a force to be reckoned with; his gritty win against Fabio Fognini in the Australian Open earlier in the year is a perfect example of this. The American eventually bowed out to Roger Federer’s prowess in the tournament but gave the world no. 4 a hard-fought match in the process.
And now, facing a tournament wild card, he should go into the match confident of getting a good result.
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Aslan Karatsev, a Steadily Rising Player
Aslan Karatsev may have entered the tournament as a wild card, but he’s had a number of highlights so far in 2020. He was the runner up in two challenger tournaments, and even won two other challenger tournaments as well: the 2020 RPM Open and the 2020 Prosperita Open, which aided in boosting his current ATP ranking to being the highest ever of his career.
He also just narrowly missed out on the French Open main draw after losing to Sebastian Korda, making it the closest that he’s ever come to competing in a Grand Slam main draw.
This matchup will also be Karatsev’s first-ever ATP 500 tournament participation, although he’s already played in the tournament before when it was an ATP 250 tournament. So it’s safe to say that he’s having a steady rise in his relatively young career.
All this, however, pales in comparison to his opponent who’s having a greater ascend in his career as well. Karatsev faces a player who has so much greater experience and momentum, who performs better on indoor hard surfaces, and also has a greater shot than most at winning this year’s St. Petersburg’s Open, making it hard to see this match as anything other than an experience booster for him.
Sandgren v Karatsev Prediction and Tip
First-round upsets are always bound in any tournament. However, I don’t see this match being one of them. Karatsev may end up giving Sandgren a hard-fought match, but I still expect the American to handle the pressure and get the job done.
Tip: Sandgren to win: 1/2 (bet365)
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The St. Petersburg Open 2020 will be played from October 12 to October 18. You can watch & bet on the St. Petersburg Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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