Diego Sebastián Schwartzman vs Marco Cecchinato Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Estoril Open

Prediction published on 02/04/2023, 13:44  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 03/04/2023 at 06:39 in Tennis Predictions

Diego Schwartzman takes on Marco Cecchinato in the first round of the Estoril Open clay court tournament. Schwartzman is seeded seventh for this event and is in the same half of the draw as Hubert Hurkacz and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who are the second and third seeds respectively. The Argentinian therefore has a tough time ahead of him if he fancies getting to the final where he could meet top seeded Casper Ruud, who beat him in Miami last month. Schwartzman is 36th in the live rankings but was as high as 13th last year. He's not having a good 2023 and has failed to get past the last 16 of any tournament. That includes a disastrous clay court season in South America where he lost all four of his matches. He'll be hoping to get back into winning ways in the European clay court season. Some good results in the coming weeks might yet see him seeded at Roland Garros.

Marco Cecchinato is currently 96th in the live rankings. The Italian was 16th four years ago but was outside the top 200 for part of last year. Cecchinato has also had a disappointing time this year and like his opponent hasn't reached a quarter final in 2023. He also played four clay court tournaments in South America but struggled for results with two wins out of five and losing in the qualifying rounds in one of the tournaments. Last week saw him lose in the first round of the San Remo Challenger Tour event. That was a big disappointment as he was the second seed for that tournament. He's played Schwartzman on four previous occasions. He won't forget their first meeting four years ago as he beat Schwartzman to win the Buenos Aires title. However, the three that have followed have all been lost, two of them on clay. Schwartzman can get another win this time around.