Both Benoit Paire and Fabio Fognini are seeded in Dubai, but they can expect tough opening matches on Tuesday afternoon. Paire is going up against Marin Cilic, while Fognini gets things started against Dan Evans.
Marin Cilic vs. (8) Benoit Paire
Paire and Cilic will be facing each other for the seventh time in their careers and for the second time this season when they clash in round one of the Dubai Duty Free Championships on Tuesday. Cilic is dominating the head-to-head series 5-1 after surviving 6-2, 6-7(6), 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) at the Australian Open. The Croat has won five in a row at his opponent’s expense following Paire’s initial victory at the 2013 Chennai tournament.
It has been a dismal February for the Frenchman, who lost his opening matches in Pune and Rotterdam before falling to Alexander Bublik in the Marseille second round (opened with a win over Gregoire Berrere). Cilic is a solid 6-3 this season with two victories at the ATP Cup, a fourth-round showing in Melbourne, and a second-round performance in Marseille (defeated Ilya Ivashka, lost to Denis Shapovalov). The world No. 36 is in slightly superior form at the moment and obviously feels comfortable in this particular matchup.
Pick: Cilic in 2
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Dan Evans vs. (4) Fabio Fognini
Fognini reached round four of the Aussie Open, but it has otherwise been a disappointing 2020 campaign. The 11th-ranked Italian lost his Rotterdam opener to Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3 and he has picked up just a single win this season over anyone in the top 37 (Evans is currently 37th).
Although Fognini is the seeded player in this matchup, Evans is the one enjoying fine form right now. The Brit is sporting an 8-4 record for the year with quarterfinal finishes in Adelaide and Rotterdam (in addition to Great Britain as a team at the ATP Cup). Evans is more confident and generally looks more motivated at the moment, so he should have the edge in this one.
Pick: Evans in 3
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WWW?
Cilic, but should be a rollercoaster, CIlic’s average level isn’t as good as many players, I know he has the big HTH, but all their matches except 1 have gone the distance, so expect another uncomfortable ride in this one.
Fognini over Evans, Evans has just 3 wins over top 10 players in his career, I know Fog is not quite top 10 but he’s really close.
Here were my picks for the day just passed in Dubai: Khachanov over Kukushkin, Kohlschreiber over Safwat, Rublev over Musetti, Gasquet over Harris, Djokovic over Jaziri, Monfils over Fucsovics.
Here are the rest of my picks for tomorrow: Uchiyama over Lu, Novak over Gunneswaran, Krajinovic over Sousa, Hurkacz over Bublik, Nishioka over Herbert, Basilashvili over Berankis, Tsitsipas over Carreno, Bautista over Struff.
Why has my post been deleted?
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I made a post with comments and predictions on these and other matches which was here before.