World number 73, Canadian, Vasek Pospisil will take on Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko, the world number 216 in the first round of the 2020 Sofia Open. The match is scheduled for Monday, November 9, and is likely to begin sometime after 3:00 pm local time (8:00 am Eastern Time). Get the live streaming options of this Vasek Pospisil v Illya Marchenko match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Vasek Pospisil v Illya Marchenko Head to Head
The two have faced each other three times in their careers so far. And the Canadian leads the tally two matches to one. Their first-ever meeting was back in 2010 at the Canada masters and it was Marchenko who won on that occasion. But since then Pospisil has won at Atlanta (2014) and Bratislava Challanger (2016).
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Which Pospisil Will Turn Up In Sofia?
The 30-year-old Canadian has played in 11 tournaments this season. And has crashed out in the opening two rounds in six of them. But at the same time, he has also reached his second singles final and made it to the fourth round at the US Open as well.
A couple of weeks ago he reached the round of 16 at Vienna after starting out from the qualifying rounds. He beat world number 21 Felix Auger Aliassime along the way & looked really impressive. But immediately after that he lost in the qualifying rounds at the Paris Masters and failed to reach the main draw.
During the 2014 to 2016 period, Pospisil had great results in both the singles and the doubles category. Pospisil won the doubles Wimbledon back in 2014.
He reached two further Grand Slam quarter finals in doubles over the next two seasons and won the Indian Wells Masters as well in 2015. In 2016 he reached three semi finals and two finals on ATP Masters 100 events in doubles. In singles, he reached the semis at the Canadian Masters in 2013 & made it to the last eight Roland Garros in 2015
Post 2016 he made decided to reduce the number of doubles matches he plays in order to focus on singles. But that hasn’t really gone to plan for him. The Canadian was as high as 25 in the world rankings at one point of time. But now has dropped to 73 in the world.
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Qualifier Marchenko’s First Main Draw Appearance Since 2017
Marchenko was once a top 50 player in the world and had a knack of troubling big name players on the tour. At the start of 2016 he beat three top 50 players in the Qatar Open to reach the semi finals.
And these wins included beating David Ferrer, who was a top 10 player at the time and the defending champion that year in Doha. Later that season he reached the fourth round at the US Open, which remains his best ever showing at a Grand Slam.
But he hasn’t really done anything of note on the tour in the last few years. Even though he has won a couple of challenger events during the time, his last appearance in a main draw match at an ATP event was back in 2017. On that occasion, he made it to the Wimbledon main draw where he unfortunately lost in straight sets.
Even this week in Sofia, Marchenko got to the main draw via a lucky loser entry. And he will be hoping that the his stroke of fortune continue. And he can finally end his wait of winning an ATP tour match, something which he hasn’t achieved in over four years.
Vasek Pospisil v Illya Marchenko Prediction and Tip
This should be a straight forward win for the Canadian. Marchenko’s best days are behind him and at 33 he doesn’t really pose a huge challenge. Even though, the Ukrainian has had some success on the indoor courts but Pospisil should be able to progress comfortably.
Tip: Pospisil to win in straight sets: 6/4 (bet365)
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The 2020 Sofia Open will be played from November 8 to November 14. You can watch & bet on the Sofia Masters here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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