Adrian Mannarino vs Karen Khachanov Prediction & Betting Tips - St. Petersburg, Russia

Prediction published on 26/10/2021, 09:31  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 26/10/2021 at 17:26 in Tennis Predictions

Karen Khachanov takes on Adrian Mannarino in the first round of the St Petersburg Open. The winner of this match faces either Marin Cilic or Albert Ramos Vinolas in the next round. Khachanov is the world number 30 and seeded sixth for ths tournament. He has dropped ten places in the world rankings this year but did win the silver medal in the men's singles at the Olympic Games. Other highlights of an inconsistent year have been semi-finals in Melbourne and Lyon and reaching the last eight at Wimbledon, though no top 50 ranked players were beaten. Recent form has seen Khachanov beat Pablo Carreno Busta at Indian Wells and get to to the last four in Moscow last week.

Adrian Mannarino is ranked 20 places below his opponent. Like his opponent, he's slipped down the rankings this year having began 2021 in 34th place. The Frenchman reached the quarter finals in Moscow last week and beat Andrey Rublev (top seed in this tournament) on the way. That was a good result but losing to the world number 108 Ricardas Berankis in the last eight wasn't. Only two of his last six matches have been won so he could do with a good run this week. His best performance this year has been a semi-final in Mallorca in late June. He's had three previous matches against Khachanov and lost all of them, the most recent being in the Kremlin Cup final in Moscow three years ago. Go for Khachanov to win this match.