Some of the first round action at the 2023 Hamburg Open will see Juan Pablo Varillas up against Thiago Seyboth Wild and Zhizhen Zhang face Jan Choinski. Get the latest predictions along with the odds, preview and head to head for these matches along with Arthur Fils v Daniel Elahi Galan and Hugo Dellien v Cristian Garin.
Juan Pablo Varillas v Thiago Seyboth Wild Preview
Head-to-Head: All four of their previous matches have either come on the Challenger circuit or the qualifiers to the main draw of this event. All on clay too. And Varillas leads 3-1.
Seyboth Wild makes it to this tournament ranked 123rd in the world, having featured in a couple of qualifiers before this. Straight-set wins over Andrea Collarini and Thiago Monteiro meant that Seyboth Wild was playing in only his second main draw of the season.
He will take a lot of confidence from how things had gone in the first though with Seyboth Wild making it through the qualifiers and defeating Daniil Medvedev in the first round of the French Open. Seyboth Wild would then proceed to feature in the third round there.
Where his difficulties might mount is he is up against a player who loves his time on clay.
Varillas is also coming off a quarterfinal appearance at the Gstaad Open last week before which he had made a career-best fourth round appearance at the French Open as well.
This makes for an intriguing viewing but one that should see Varillas manage his opponent and come through.
Varillas v Seyboth Wild Tip
Varillas to win in three sets: 3/1
Zhizhen Zhang v Jan Choinski Preview
Head-to-Head: There has been no previous meeting between these two players.
A Madrid Masters quarterfinalist and a third round appearance at the French Open have punctuated Zhang’s season and that should have meant he is doing a lot better than his current 79th rank on the ATP charts.
Unfortunately for the Chinese 26-year-old, his consistency has not yet lit the courts on fire and that’s what he would like to aim for. Even coming into this match, Zhang has lost three main draw matches in a row including one last week on clay.
Featuring at the Gstaad Open, Zhang fell to Hamad Medjedovic in the first round of the tournament there.
The one reason why we believe he will still have a good chance of turning that around is he is up against a player whose career-best ranking is 149th in the world. Choinski enters this tournament having done well on clay at the lower level but as far as the ATP circuit goes he has never played a main draw match on clay.
And that’s where Zhang will have an advantage.
Zhang v Choinski Tip
Zhang to win: 11/20
Arthur Fils v Daniel Elahi Galan Preview
Head-to-Head: Fils and Galan have never faced off in a competitive match before this
As far as their rankings go, there’s not much to choose between these two players with Fils at 71st and Galan ranked 67th.
But at 19 years of age, Fils has already shown what he is capable of, having clinched his maiden ATP tournament win earlier this year by winning the clay court competition in Munich. Incidentally he had begun the season with the first ever title victory of his career when he won the Oeiras Challenger in January too.
What this shows is that Fils has the talent to take on the rest of the world, including top-20 players like Francisco Cerundolo whom he defeated in Munich on his way to the win.
Can he show that same consistency against Galan who did well to make the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier this year but has otherwise struggled on clay.
Even in Hamburg this year, Galan wasn’t supposed to make the main draw after losing in the second round of the qualifiers to Choinski. It was only a late withdrawal that has allowed him a chance here.
Against Fils, he might not have much of a chance though.
Fils v Galan Tip
Fils to win: 1/2
Hugo Dellien v Cristian Garin Preview
Head-to-Head: There have been four previous meetings between these two players with Garin having won three. This includes one in the main draw of the ATP circuit earlier this year at Houston where Garin was a 6-3, 6-0 winner.
While Garin has fallen to 120th in the world, there is no doubting his credentials on clay. Backing the 2020 semifinalist to come away a straight-set winner here.
Dellien v Garin Tip
Garin to win in straight sets: 6/5
The 2023 Hamburg Open will be played from July 24 to 30. Get our ultimate guide on tennis betting and predictions here.
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