Andy Murray vs Luca Van Assche Prediction & Betting Tips - Aix en Provence, France

Prediction published on 05/05/2023, 02:00  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 05/05/2023 at 06:05 in Tennis Predictions

The quarter-final of the Aix En Provence Challenger tournament will see Andy Murray take on Luca Van Assche on Friday 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 blank here in France, beating Gael Monfils in the first round, but needed three sets to take down alternate entry Laurent Lokoli yesterday, which takes his record on the clay to 2-2 and 10-7 overall. Ranked 52nd in the world, Murray will be expected to pull off a win in this one, though it won't be easy against a tricky opponent on his home court. 

Meanwhile, the hometown boy Luca Van Assche has been improving consistently this year and has worked his rank down from 200th in the world all the way to his current rank of 86th. The Frenchman won back-to-back challenger events already this year in Sanremo and Pau, beating Juan Pablo Varillas and Ugo Humbert in the respective finals. Following those events, Van Assche tried his hand in Monte Carlo, but with no success, exiting the tournament in the qualifiers, while in Banja Luka, he came up against Novak Djokovic in the second round and was unable to overcome the mighty Serbian. In his first match here in France, Van Assche has beaten Joao Sousa and, more notably, third-seeded Adrian Mannarino in the round of 16, with both matches needing three sets to be decided. Van Assche will know that his opponent is not the player he was in the past and will want to take advantage of that as he continues to search for the first major title of his career.