The remaining first round matches at the 2020 Rio Open will be played on Tuesday, February 18 with Borna Coric, Guido Pella and Dusan Lajovic among the seeded players in action. All the information around those matches can be found below with the latest Dusan Lajovic v Marco Cecchinato, Guido Pella v Thiago Monteiro tips, previews and live streams below among other matches.
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Dusan Lajovic v Marco Cecchinato Predictions & Preview
This is a very old rivalry, despite having played just four matches between them. Both have two apiece, but Lajovic’s wins have come on clay while Cecchinato has won one on clay and the other on hard court. Their most recent match came in 2019, four years after their previous one but was at the Doha Open, on a hard court surface. Not sure if that can be really taken into account while deciding on this one.
What could be looked at is Lajovic has risen to 23rd in the world, his career-best, on the back of a solid ATP Cup campaign for Serbia and a third round at the Australian Open. And while he won just one match at Buenos Aires, he will enter this match with a lot more confidence than his opponent. Here’s why.
While Cecchinato made it to the final of the Punta del Este Challenger, his campaign at the higher levels of competition has been underwhelming at best. Of the six matches he’s played, he’s lost five including back to back first round exits at Cordoba and Argentina Open.
Interesting then that a Lajovic win is still an 8/13 and we will gladly accept those odds.
Tip: Lajovic to win: 8/13 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
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Guido Pella v Thiago Monteiro Predictions & Preview
Guido Pella will look to overcome his poor start to the season in which he has won and lost five matches apiece when he takes on Brazil’s Monteiro in his opening round. On paper this should start as a no-contest with Pella 26th rank in the world and a solid clay court record expected to work majorly in his favour against the 88th-ranked opponent.
However, things recently have gone in different directions for the duo. Pella, who hasn’t gone past the first round at the Rio Open over the last three seasons, is 1-2 on clay this year. He lost his opener at the Cordoba Open and then went down to Juan Ignacio Londero in the Argentina Open.
On the other hand, Monteiro won the Punta del Este Challenger title and while he fell in the first round at Cordoba as well, he stunned Borna Coric at Buenos Aires on his way to the quarterfinals.
Pella should still win, he is too good to let a run like this affect him on clay – he was 21-9 last year on that surface.
Tip: Pella to win: 4/6 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)
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Borna Coric v Juan Ignacio Londero Predictions & Preview
32nd-ranked Borna Coric can be expected to be tested by Argentina’s 61st-ranked Juan Ignacio Londero when they meet in the first round at Rio. This will be their second meeting and first in nearly five years, with Coric having won that match on the Challenger circuit.
Coric has fallen to 32nd in the world on the back of a poor previous season (28-25 win-loss) and a horrid start to this one. In fact, since defeating Dominic Thiem in the first match he played in the ATP Cup, Coric is on a five-match losing streak, which includes losses at the Kooyong Exhibition, Australian Open and Argentina Open other than the ATP Cup itself.
Londero, on the other hand, was a semifinalist last week at the Argentina Open, before losing to Casper Ruud. On his way to the semis, he defeated Pella and Laslo Djere and if there’s one thing he will take from that tournament apart from points, it’s a lot of confidence.
Which is also why Londero starts off as a slight favourite and will have to go with that.
Tip: Londero to win: 4/5 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)
Casper Ruud v Gianluca Mager Predictions & Preview
Casper Ruud became the highest-ranked Norwegian player in their history and he will now hope he can maintain or improve that. In order to retain points from the previous season, Ruud will need to make it to the quarterfinal here, and he starts off on a positive note.
After all, Ruud was the Buenos Aires winner last week, having dropped just one set en route the title victory. It was his maiden title win as well. Now starting out against a qualifier Mager, he is an overwhelming favourite to this, with odds of 1/4 for that. It should be an easy victory too, against a player who has won just one main draw round this season.
Mager, ranked 128th in the world, had made it to the second round at Cordoba two weeks ago, but went out to Pablo Cuevas in the end. He brings bit of an unknown quantity to the table which could help though.
Tip: Games Handicap Mager +4.5: 4/6 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)