Miomir Kecmanovic vs Botic Van De Zandschulp: Betting on the Outsider

In the first semifinal of the Munich clay tennis tournament, the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic will face Botic Van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands. They have already met once before, only a month and a half ago at the Masters in Indian Wells. Kecmanovic beat the Dutchman very confidently, in two sets. Not surprisingly, Miomir is quoted as the favorite for the upcoming meeting.

For Kecmanovic the tournament in Munich is the last one in recent times. Before, the Serb played at home, in Belgrade, beating Gasquet and Millman, but losing to Novak Djokovic, who, incidentally, is not yet in the best shape. Kecmanovic had three matches in Munich without giving a single set, knocking out Rehberg, Altmaier and Basilashvili. The match against the Georgian lasted an hour and a half, Kecmanovic barely won the first set on a tie-break, but Nikoloz had no chance in the second game - a confident 6:2 win for Basilashvili. The Serb served very well, made 10 aces and zero double faults, won 66% of points on his first serve and 64% of points on his second. On the receiving side the numbers are worse: 32% on his first serve and 67% on his second.

For the Dutchman, Munich is the third clay contest for the last time. Before Bavaria, he participated in two tournaments - Marrakech and Monte Carlo. In Morocco Botic reached the quarterfinals, knocking out Dellien and Kopriva, but lost to Molcan. At the Masters on the Côte d'Azur, Van de Zandschulp fell to Korda in two sets. In Munich he outplayed Nakashima, Gerasimov and Ruud. Botic beat the Norwegian decisively in two sets, 7-5, 6-1. It is obvious that the Dutchman is in good shape going to give a fight to his offender in Indian Wells.

On the one hand, Kecmanovic outplayed the Dutchman quite confidently at the recent Masters in Indian Wells. On the other hand, Botic yesterday confidently defeated Norwegian Kasper Ruud, a strong clay player of the ATP top-10. We believe that Miomir will have a tough match and the Dutchman will fight back. Moreover, we will not be surprised if Botic ends up with an important victory and reaches the final of the ATP 250 tournament.

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