Alexei Popyrin vs Alex Molcan Prediction & Betting Tips - Belgrade, Serbia, Qualifying

Prediction published on 18/04/2023, 11:01  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 18/04/2023 at 12:01 in Tennis Predictions

World number 81 Alexei Popyrin looks to continue his promising performances on clay courts. He takes on Alex Molcan in the second round of the Srpska Open with both players being unseeded. Whoever wins this match will take on either third seeded Borna Coric or unseeeded Laslo Djere in the last eight. Popyrin did well to reach the last 32 in the Monte Carlo Masters last week. He had to win three matches to get that far and that included the Australian beating Dusan Lajovic before losing to Nicolas Jarry after winning the first set. Popyrin carried on his good form on clay by beating fifth seeded Tallon Griekspoor in the first round of this tournament, winning both sets on tie-breaks. There have been tie-breaks in three of his last four matches, so a side bet on one against Molcan might prove profitable. His first round win took Popyrin up to 73rd in the live rankings and 40th in the Live ATP Race at the time of writing this article. A win here will take him into his second ATP Tour quarter final, the other being in the first Adelaide International in January.

It's not been such a good year for Alex Molcan and that's illustrated by him only being 109th in the ATP Race. He was eight places lower than that before beating Taro Daniel in the first round of this tournament. He had to come from behind to get that win. Molcan began this Srpska Open ranked 73rd but began this year in 50th position. He has a 7-8 record for the year which isn't great but it was 1-6 at one stage. Molcan played two clay court tournaments in South America but only won one of his three matches. That came against Joao Fonesca who was ranked 827th at the time. He's certainly not in the form that was shown last year when reaching two ATP Tour clay court finals, losing them both. This is their first meeting and we go for Popyrin to get the win as he looks to be in the better form of the two.