World number 28 Aslan Karatsev will be up against Slovenian and 56th-ranked Aljaz Bedene in the second round of the 2021 Serbia Open on Thursday, April 22. Get the live streaming options of this Aslan Karatsev v Aljaz Bedene match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Aslan Karatsev v Aljaz Bedene Head to Head
No previous match has been played at the highest level between Karatsev and Bedene. The one time they did play was in an exhibition tournament, the men’s Bundesliga in Germany and that clay court encounter was won by Bedene.
Also Read:
Karatsev Tamed by Tsitsipas
Coming into the clay court swing on the back of a semifinal appearance at the Australian Open and then a shock title win at the ATP Dubai where he defeated Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev, Karatsev will now hope he can show the same kind of form on clay.
He didn’t have the greatest start on dirt last week though after being sent packing by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters. To be fair to him, however, Tsitsipas did go on to win the title, such was his form and the Russian had earlier sent Lorenzo Musetti out in the opening round in straight sets.
For all his booming groundstrokes, Karatsev does have a decent record on clay at whatever level of tennis he has played. Take the example of the 2020 season where he missed the entirety of the pre-pandemic break, only to return and feature in four competitions, all of which were held on clay.
He was a losing finalist at the second Prague Challenger of the season, went on to win the title at the third one and then made it two in two by clinching the final of the Ostrava Challenger as well.
Karatsev will, as a result, continue to remain a dangerous floater in this tournament’s draw.
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Bedene Stuns Korda in Opener
Sebastian Korda’s superlative form this season had him pegged as a favourite for his opener against Bedene but the Slovenian player took him down in three, gruelling sets.
Bedene overcame the loss of focus and form in the second set to hold on till the very end, before carving out a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (5) victory that sealed he second round berth. Incidentally Bedene was broken four times in the match, to the thrice he managed to dish out to his opponent.
An early exchange of breaks in the first set was followed by Bedene breaking Korda in the 11th game, which set it up nicely for him to serve for the set. Korda retaliated with two easy breaks of serve in the second set and when he sped away with a 5-3 lead, the writing seemed to be on the wall.
Except that Bedene came back from two match-points down to break Korda and then in the tie-breaker raced off to a 3-0 and a 6-3 lead before closing out the match.
Can he overcome his exhaustion from an encounter as difficult as that to challenge Karatsev?
Karatsev v Bedene Prediction and Tip
This seems to be a straightforward one for the Russian and Karatsev should be a favourite to make it a straight-set whitewash. 5/6 for a straight-set win.
Tip: Karatsev to win in straight sets: 5/6 (bet365)
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The 2021 Serbia Open will be played from April 19 to 25. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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