Marin Cilic vs Karen Khachanov Prediction: Croatian to get ahead

Karen Khachanov's next opponent will be Marin Cilic, now world No. 16. The two men have already played twice this season, both on a hard surface. Karen won both his duels against the Croatian, and bookmakers consider him the favorite to win the match.

We hadn't seen Cilic for a month and a half before Montreal, since the Balkan lost his semifinal in London. Cilic seemed to be so weak in the semifinals because of an injury. In the first round of the Montreal tournament, Cilic defeated Borna Coric in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, in one hour and 23 minutes. Marin served six doubles serves, 79% on his first serve and 64% on his second. Marin's statistics on the receiving end were 50%/48%.

It is his second hard-court tournament after Washington. In the US capital, the 28th-ranked player beat Koepfer but lost in two sets to Nishioka. By the way, Nishioka then made it to the final of that competition. In Montreal, Khachanov played one match against Argentina's Cerundolo but struggled to win. The match against the South American was a long, three-set, two-hour, 46-minute affair, which he won 7-6, 5-7, 6-3. During the game, Khachanov served five times and two doubles, winning 74% of points on the first and 53% on the second. His receiving statistics were 26%/46%.

Marin and Karen have played each other four times. The score is 2-2, with Cilic winning the first two games and Khachanov the last two. Moreover, the last two matches were played in 2022 at tournaments in Adelaide and Doha. For this reason, bookmakers consider Karen a favorite, although it is obvious that the Croatian was not in the best shape at that time. Since then, the Balkan has noticeably improved and climbed to 16th place in the ATP ranking.

Khachanov seems a bit overrated. Karen has already beaten Marin twice this season, but a lot has happened since mid-February, i.e. since the last time the opponents met. Cilic has improved, and will undoubtedly try to take revenge on Khachanov for his recent failures. In this pairing, we are on the side of the outsider and offer the following betting options for this game:

H1 (+1.5) for 1.672 at 1xbet & 22bet;

W1 for 2.00 at Bet365.

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