Andy Murray vs Laurent Lokoli Prediction & Betting Tips - Aix en Provence, France

Prediction published on 04/05/2023, 05:45  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 04/05/2023 at 09:06 in Tennis Predictions

The second round of the Aix En Provence Challenger tournament sees Andy Murray face Laurent Lokoli on Thursday afternoon. After a difficult start to the season, Murray showed signs of returning to his best in Doha back in March, where he overcame the likes of Jiri Lehecka and Alexander Zverev en route to a final appearance against the eventual winner Daniil Medvedev. However, since then, it's been a different story for the veteran. His first two clay court tournaments this year have seen the Brit bow out in the first round of both, losing to Alex De Minaur in Monte Carlo and, more notably, against qualifier Andrea Vavassori in Madrid toward the end of last month. Murray managed to break his clay court duck here in France, beating Gael Monfils in the first round, which takes his record on the clay to 1-2 and 9-7 overall. Seeded fifth in this tournament and up against a much lower-ranked player, Murray will see this as the perfect opportunity to gain some court time on the clay and will be expecting to go deep in this tournament. 

Meanwhile, alternate draw, Laurent Lokoli will be hoping to make the most of this opportunity on his home court. The Frenchman did well at the Barletta Challenger event last month and made it to the quarter-final stages of that tournament before running into Franco Agamenone, who won in straight sets. Following that event, Lokoli tried his hand in Madrid, but with no success, exiting the tournament in the first round against Jurij Rodionov. In his first match here in France, Lokoli managed to come back from a set down against Albert Ramos to win (3-6 6-4 7-5), taking his record to 14-10 for the year and 3-3 on the clay. Currently ranked 187th in the world, Lokoli will know that he is up against it in this one and will need to pull off an incredible upset to progress in this tournament.