Egor Gerasimov vs Ilya Ivashka Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Washington Citi Open

Prediction published on 02/08/2021, 10:38  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 02/08/2021 at 11:38 in Tennis Predictions

Ilya Ivashka takes on Egor Gerasimov in the first round of the Citi Open in Washington. The winner of this tie faces a difficult match in the second round with fourth seeded Grigor Dimitrov the opponent. Ivashka is world ranked 65th and the 27-year-old has climbed up from 108th at the start of the year. He's 64th in terms of ranking points earned this year. The Belarusian reached the last eight of a clay court tournament in Marbella in April and then won the first set against Rafael Nadal (top seed in this tournament) in Madrid before losing the next two. Further success on clay came in Munich where he beat Alexander Zverev before losing to Jan-Lennard Struff in the semi-final. It was all a bit disappointing then when he lost to world number 450 Andrey Kuznetsov in the first qualifying round of the French Open. Ivashka got to the last eight on grass in Eastbourne and then the last 16 at Wimbledon, losing to eventual runner-up Matteo Berrettini. He got to that stage at the Tokyo Olympics too, beating world number 17 Gael Monfils in the first round.

Egor Gerasimov is ranked 78th and is also from Belarus. He's 118th in the ATP Live Race, so 54 places lower than his opponent. He had an interesting start to the year beating Benoit Paire in the Australian Open. Then he took on Aslan Karatsev in round two and won just one game in three sets. Gerasimov bounced back well though, making it to the semi-finals in Montpellier, including a win over Andy Murray and eventually lost to David Goffin in three sets. His form went downhill though with only three wins in his next 13 matches. Last week saw him lose in round two of the Olympics tournament to Fabio Fognini. Back Ivashka to get the win here.