In what could be an interesting match-up, the 26th-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff will be up against the world number 40 Jiri Lehecka in the first round of the 2023 French Open on Sunday, May 28. Get the predictions and odds of this Jan-Lennard Struff v Jiri Lehecka match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Jan-Lennard Struff v Jiri Lehecka Head to Head
Struff and Lehecka have never faced off in a competitive match before this.
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Struff Shows Sudden Turnaround in Fortunes
It was the start of the 2023 season and the Australian Open was about a week away. Struff was in some form strife having played in only one tournament for the season and that too was on the Challenger circuit.
He was forced to feature in the qualifiers of the Australian Open and while he won all three to make the main draw, Struff was bundled out in straight sets in the first round. The German was ranked 167th at that stage.
Forget having to make it through the qualifiers again, four months on, Struff enters the season’s second Grand Slam as the 21st seed. And that has been thanks to his performances on clay this season.
Sure, he made the semifinal of a couple of hardcourt-based Challenger tournaments but it was at the Monte-Carlo Masters and then in Madrid that his turnaround really bear fruit. At the former he made the quarterfinal but it was in Madrid he shocked Stefanos Tsitsipas on his way to the final.
The question is if Struff can maintain that same rhythm here, especially now that he is up against an upcoming star.
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Lehecka Hoping to Turn Things Around
While Lehecka also has had a year to remember, his performances on clay have tapered off in recent times. Having started off with a third round appearance at the Monte-Carlo Masters and then made the quarterfinal of the Banja-Luka Open, Lehecka enters this tournament on the back of four successive defeats.
Making it worse is that the fourth of those defeats came in Turin in a Challenger tournament, where he was forced to feature in the qualifier.
And down 4-0 in that match against 7/1 underdog Aleksandr Braynin, Lehecka fell 4-0 down in the first set before having to retire from the encounter.
The question now is if Lehecka can shrug off his recent run and fitness concerns to try and dislodge his opponent’s momentum. Could be a bit of a task here.
Struff v Lehecka Prediction and Tip
While Lehecka will be no pushover, we will have to back Struff to come through in four or five sets.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Struff to win: 4/7
- Moderate Risk Tip: Struff to win AND Both players to win a set: 6/4
The 2023 French Open will be played from May 28 to June 11. 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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