Some very interesting match-ups will punctuate the first round action held at the 2020 Montpellier Open which will be played on Monday, February 3. Get all the information around those matches can be found below with the latest Joao Sousa v Gregoire Barrere, Norbert Gombos v Pablo Carreno Busta and Aljaz Bedene v Vasek Pospisil tips, previews and live streams below among other matches.
- Get the best odds for the Montpellier Open 2020 with bet365 here.
- Also watch the Montpellier Open 2020 live streaming here
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Joao Sousa v Gregoire Barrere Predictions & Preview
The 59th-ranked Joao Sousa will take on 84th-ranked Frenchman Gregoire Barrere in the first round at Montpellier, in what will also be their second match. The first time they played came at the qualifier at the Paris Masters of 2018 and Sousa needed to overturn a first set loss to win the next two and the match.
Sousa, a three-time ATP title winner, hasn’t had a good start to the season with back to back defeats at ATP Auckland and Australian Open. He is yet to register a win. Barrere, on the other hand, is in his third tournament, winning the qualifying rounds at Doha and Adelaide, only to lose in the first round while finally winning his first main draw match of the season in Melbourne last week.
Unfortunately for him, that result came against the 173rd-ranked qualifier Mohammed Safwat and even that took some doing. As a result, Sousa should start a favourite, carving out a neat opening win and his first of the season here.
Tip: Sousa to win: 11/8 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
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Norbert Gombos v Pablo Carreno Busta Predictions & Preview
30th-ranked Pablo Carreno Busta will be up against the 113th-ranked Norbert Gombos and it comes as no surprise he is an overwhelming 3/10 to win this one.
Carreno Busta has been decent on hard courts, having had a win-loss record of 20-7 last season on it and having managed to reach the third round at the Australian Open. It took the might of Rafael Nadal to end his campaign at Melbourne.
Compare that with his Slovakian opponent who is yet to win an ATP title, lost his opening match at the Canberra Challenger and then while he made the opening round at the Australian Open, bowed out in his first match too. And in their only previous match on clay, the Spaniard won in three sets but that came seven years ago. Straight-set win expected for Carreno Busta.
Tip: Carreno Busta to win in straight sets: 5/6 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
Aljaz Bedene v Vasek Pospisil Predictions & Preview
Two veteran pros, 29-year-old Vasek Pospisil and 30-year-old Aljaz Bedene meet in the first round of the Montpellier Open in what will also be their fourth meeting. And Bedene, ranked 55th in the world, also leads 2-1 on head to head. The thing to note here, however, is their last match against each other came all the way back in 2016, in which time Pospisil’s ranking has fallen to 138th in the world.
Bedene has had an impressive start to the year with a quarterfinal appearance at Doha where he lost to Stan Wawrinka and a second round presence at the Australian Open. He would have thought he had a chance to go even further in Melbourne but for a shock loss to Ernests Gulbis.
Pospisil qualified for the Auckland Open and then won his opener before going down to Denis Shapovalov while then losing to Ivo Karlovic – who is playing at the Pune Open right now – at the Australian Open. The Canadian’s performances last year saw him pull off some interesting results including 14-7 on hard courts and 6-1 indoors at the Challenger level but will that be enough to overcome an opponent ranked nearly 80 places ahead of him?
Tip: Beden to win: 10/11 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)