Kevin Anderson will kick off his Casablanca campaign as the No. 2 seed on Thursday. Up first for Anderson during second-round action is Pablo Carreno-Busta, who has won 39 consecutive matches.
Pablo Carreno-Busta has won 39 matches in a row. No. 40 would not only be the biggest one–by far–of the streak, but it would also be the biggest one–by far–of his entire career.
Carreno-Busta will hope to continue his surge when he goes up against second-seeded Kevin Anderson during round-two action at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Thursday. Not surprisingly, this is the first-ever meeting between the two competitors.
Anderson, too, is playing the best tennis of his career right now and he is almost a lock to be seeded for the French Open with few points to defend between now and Roland Garros. The 29th-ranked South African is 14-5 for the season, which includes and runner-up finish in Sydney, a fourth-round showing at the Australian Open, and a quarterfinal performance at the Indian Wells Masters.
Still, the story here is the little-known Carreno-Busta. He has lost only one match this season, which came in the final of his first tournament to none other than Serbian Davis Cup hero Ilija Bozoljac. The 293rd-ranked Spaniard has since won seven consecutive Futures events (five on clay) and he is 43-1 overall for the year. Carreno-Busta qualified for Casablanca then ousted two-time defending champion Pablo Andujar 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 on Tuesday.
Clay will give the underdog a chance, but this is a massive step up in competition. Anderson is a whole different beast from Carreno-Busta’s previous competition, and he has produced decent results on clay throughout his career despite being at his best on hard courts.
Pick: Anderson in 2
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