Dušan Lajović vs Sebastian Baez Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Hamburg Open

Prediction published on 16/07/2024, 18:48  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 16/07/2024 at 19:10 in Tennis Predictions

Third seed Sebastian Baez begins his Hamburg Open campaign. He faces unseeded Dusan Lajovic for a place in the quarter-finals of this clay court tournament. For the winner, their next opponent will be either seventh seed Luciano Darderi or unseeded Alexander Shevchenko.

Baez is the world number 19 and that's only one place below the career-high that he was at in late June. He's at 18th in the Live ATP Race and has won two clay court tournaments this year. They were back-to-back wins on the South American clay court tour.

His form hasn't quite reached those levels in recent months. On the European clay court tour he made it to the quarter-finals in Geneva and the last 16 in Rome. Baez lost in the second round at Roland Garros this year. 

He'll be glad to be back on clay after a disastrous grass court season. He lost all three of the matches he played last month.  He leads Lajovic 2-1 in previous meetings, all three matches being played on clay with the most recent seeing Baez win in Rome this year, both sets going to a tie-break.

Dusan Lajovic had a real struggle to get through to this second round. He faced Brazilian qualifier Felipe Melingi Alves and had to go to a final set to get the win, losing the middle one. He's 55th in the latest rankings and now up to 51st in the live list.

The 34-year-old also returns to clay after a disappointing time on grass. He only played at Wimbledon and lost in the first round without taking a set off Grigor Dimitrov. On clay this year, he's won three of his last seven matches. We tip Baez to win this in straight sets.