France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert will take on Portugal’s Pedro Sousa in the first round of the 2021 Miami Open on Wednesday, March 24. The match is yet to be scheduled. Get the live streaming options of this Pierre-Hugues Herbert v Pedro Sousa match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Pierre-Hugues Herbert v Pedro Sousa Head to Head
This will be the first meeting between the 30-year-old Frenchman and the 32-year-old Portuguese player.
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Herbert Back In Form After a Dismal Start To 2021
Following a slow start to the 2021 season, France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert finally struck form in Marseille two weeks ago, winning four matches in a row to reach his fourth singles final. But a maiden title remained elusive as the 19-time doubles champion went down fighting to the new World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the title clash.
Thanks to his run in Marseille the 30-year-old right-hander heads to Miami with a 5-4 record this year.
Having begun the season with a first round defeat to David Goffin in Antalya, Herbert got his first win of the season in Melbourne-2, when he beat the United States’ Maxime Cressy in a tight three-set first round contest.
The win was followed by two consecutive defeats, as Herbert was knocked out by Australia’s Jordan Thompson in the second round of Melbourne-2 and by Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the opening round of the Australian Open.
Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics piled more misery on the Frenchman, beating him in the second qualifying round in Rotterdam and preventing him from reaching the main draw.
Herbert’s poor run of form finally ended in Marseille as he defeated sixth seed Kei Nishikori, Cameron Norrie, second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and fourth seed Ugo Humbert en route to a first final in two years.
He had reached his last final in Montpellier in 2019.
Last year, the former World No. 36, who has achieved a Career Grand Slam in doubles, had a 10-10 record, which included last eight finishes in Doha and Montpellier.
One of the major issues that plagued Herbert last year was his inability to clinch close contests. He squandered three match points against Felix Auger Aliassime in the second round in Marseille and three against Dan Evans in Dubai. He also forced a fifth set against Goffin in the second round at the Australian Open and against Alexander Zverev in the Round of 64 at the U.S. Open, but failed to close out either of those contests.
In 2021, he has shown improvement in that aspect, and the win over Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals in Marseille is a testament to it. Having lost a tight first set in the tie-break, Herbert fought back to win 6-7 (8-7), 6-4, 6-2.
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Sousa Comes in With a Losing Record
Facing Herbert in the first round will be World No. 111 Pedro Sousa, who comes into the tournament with a 2-4 record this season.
The 32-year-old Portuguese right-hander who was knocked out of the first round of the Australian Open and the Cordoba Open by Stan Wawrinka and Federico Delbonis respectively, won his first round matches in Mebourne-2 and Santiago against Australia’s Li Tu and Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer respectively.
However, in both the competitions, Sousa was beaten in the next round. While Dan Evans ended his run in Melbourne-2, Laslo Djere stopped him in Santiago.
A 16-time winner at the Challenger and Futures level, Sousa reached a career-high ranking of 99 in 2019.
His best performance on the Tour came at the Argentina Open last year when, playing as a lucky loser, he reached the final of the clay-court event. He got even luckier in the semifinal as his opponent and top seed David Schwartzmann withdrew with an injury. Sousa was eventually outclassed by Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final.
Herbert v Sousa Prediction and Tip
Herbert has been in terrific form this month and will be the favorite to win this contest and advance to the next round where 11th seed Felix Auger Aliassime awaits.
Tip: Herbert to win in straight sets: 4/9 (bet365)
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The 2021 Miami Open will be played from March 22 to April 4. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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