World No. 51, and number six seed, Benoit Paire of France.will take on Jozef Kovalik of Argentina, the world 170, in the first round of the 2021 Gstaad Open on Monday, July 19. Get the live streaming options of this Benoit Paire v Jozef Kovalik match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Benoit Paire v Jozef Kovalik Head to Head
The pair have never played each other before. This will be the first match between the 32-year old Frenchman and the Slovak, who is four years younger.
Also Read:
Paire Inching Back to Semblance of Normalcy?
Paire has been struggling with his form for some time, and prior to Hamburg last week, had only managed two wins in his previous two matches.
And, in defeating two qualifiers, Ricardas Berankis (albeit after he retired with injury) and the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, the Frenchman had to beat himself as much as his opponents, as he struggled to maintain his composure.
It was no coincidence that he played his best tennis in Germany when he was able to control himself, and for the first set and a half of his quarter-final with Federico Delbonis, played some of his best tennis all year.
The errors though started to creep in and, from leading by a set and a break, he found himself in a tie-break. He earned himself four match points then, but, when he could not convert any of them, the match got away from him.
He can take both positives and negatives from the defeat. On the plus side it was a reminder of what he is capable of, but, on the minus, it was a reminder, if it were needed, of the importance of maintaining the composure.
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Kovalik’s Modest Record Against Top Players
Kovalik spends most of his time on the junior tours, where he has appeared in 23 finals, winning 13 of them, with clay his preferred surface. All but one of his tournament successes have come on clay. He also has won doubles title – again won on a clay court.
His record against top players is modest and he has only once beaten a player in the top ten, and that was Marin Cilic back in 2017.
This will be his first time in an ATP main draw since the South American clay court swing back in the early months of the year. There he reached the quarter-final in Cordoba, before losing to local man, Facundo Bagnis, failed to qualify in Buenos Aires, and was defeated in the first round in Santiago.
Most recently, he was beaten in the first round of qualifying for Hamburg.
Paire v Kovalik Prediction and Tip
Although Paire has a habit of making things difficult for himself, especially when he loses his cool, he played himself into some form in Hamburg, and he should have too much for the Slovak.
Tip: Paire to win: 4/6 (Click Here to Bet with bet365)
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The 2021 Gstaad Open will be played from July 19-25. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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