Lucas Pouille vs Stefanos Tsitsipas: the Greek to Win and the Frenchman to Trouble

In the last 32 of the Madrid Masters, the Frenchman Lucas Pouille, #174, will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas, #5 in the world ranking. The Greek is quoted as the favorite. Stefanos has beaten the Frenchman twice on tour, although the men have never played before on the ground, but only on hard and grass.

For Pouille, the Masters in Madrid is his third clay event of the season. Before, the Frenchman played at the Challenger in Madrid and had one match in Prague against Nava. At the Challenger in the Spanish capital, Lucas was stronger than Marterer and Roca Batalla, but lost to Carballes Baena in two games. The upcoming match against Tsitsipas will be Pouille's second at the Masters. In the first round Lucas unexpectedly, confidently and, one might say, easily, beat Karen Khachanov. The match against Karen lasted an hour and a half, Pouille won it 6:3, 6:4. In terms of statistics, he fired once making one double fault, won 66% of points on the first serve and 67% of points on the second. On the receiption, Pouille won 37% on Khachanov's first serve and 53% on his second. All in all, not a bad statistic for the ATP #174.

We have already seen Tsitsipas in two tournaments. In Monte Carlo the Greek triumphed, knocking out Fognini, Djere, Schwartzman, Zverev, and Davidovich Fokina in the final. Then, it was Barelona, where he lost to Spaniard Alcaraz Garfia in three sets, defeating Ivashka and Dimitrov before. In total Stefanos played eight clay matches, winning seven of them. Stefanos has not played in Madrid yet as the Greek seeded will start in the second round. It should be noted that last year Stefanos also started in Madrid with the second round and a match against the Frenchman, Benoit Paire. Tsitsipas left the tournament in the third round, losing to Casper Ruud in two games.

We will not give more than one bet at the beginning of the tournament, we will observe the tennis players, their mood, motivation and form. On the one hand, we want to take a confident win of Tsitsipas, taking into account the statistics of personal meetings between the opponents and the previous achievements of the Greek on the courts this season. On the other hand, Pouille performed well in the first match of the Madrid Masters, beating Karen Khachanov. We don't doubt Stephanos will win this game. But we doubt very much that it will be an easy victory.

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