Geoffrey Blancaneaux vs Roman Safiullin Prediction & Betting Tips - Koblenz, Germany

Prediction published on 29/01/2023, 17:59  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 29/01/2023 at 18:59 in Tennis Predictions

Roman Safiullin is the second seed at the Koblenz Open which is on the Challenger Tour. He's up against Geoffrey Blancaneaux in the first round with the winner facing either Antoine Escoffier or wildcard Marko Topo. Roman Safiullin is the world number 97 but was as low as 163rd last year but rose to 88th in November. The Russian won two Challenger Tour events last year, both on a hard court which is also the surface for this tournament. He made a good start to the new year with a run to the last 16 of the first Adelaide International event. He had to win three matches before being beaten in straight sets by Denis Shapovalov. That was followed by a loss to Jordan Thompson in the second Adelaide event. The Australian Open also saw him lose in the first round, going down in four sets to Denis Kudla.

Geoffery Blancaneaux is ranked 173rd in the world and last November was a career-high 134th. The French player began this year in a Challenger Tour event held in Noumes, New Caledonia. He beat Tomas Barrios Vera (ranked 230th at the time) but was then beaten by Rubin Statham whose ranking was 523rd. The Australian Open saw him knocked out by Marco Trungelliti in the first qualifying round who was ranked outside the top 200. Better form was shown in the Quimper Challenger as he made it to the semi-finals. This is a tough draw for him and our tip is for the second seed to progress in straight sets.