James McCabe vs Dayne Kelly Prediction & Betting Tips - Burnie, Australia

Prediction published on 31/01/2023, 07:37  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 31/01/2023 at 08:40 in Tennis Predictions

After the excitement of the Australian Open, the next tournament in that country is on the Challenger Tour. The second round of the Burnie International sees James McCabe take on Dayne Kelly. The winner of this last 16 match will face either second seeded Rinky Hijikata or wildcard Blake Ellis. All four of those players are from Australia, so they're guaranteed a player in the last four. It's been a surprising tournament so far and Hijikata is the only seeded player left in the bottom half of the draw. It's a good opportunity for McCabe and Kelly to rise up the rankings. McCabe began this tournament ranked a career high 386th in the world but is up to 370th in the live list. A win over Kelly will take him up another 18 places. The 19-year-old won his opening match of the year but then lost in the last 16 of the Canberra Challenger Tour event. His Australian Open campaign ended in the first qualifying round with a loss to Alexander Muller, who was ranked 160th. He caused a shock in the first round of this event, defeating fifth seeded Omar Jasika in straight sets. That was revenge for a loss to Jasika in a World Tennis Tour final last year.

Dayne Kelly started this Challenger Tour event ranked 439th but the 32-year-old reached 252nd five years ago. He's only played one tournament this year before this Burnie International. The Australian played in the first Challenger event held in Nonthaburi in Thailand. He won two qualifiers to get into the main draw and then beat Marco Trungelitti in the first round. His run came to an end in the last 16 when being beaten by Yu Hsiou Hsu (ranked 221st), winning just four games. In the first round of this Challenger Event, Kelly beat Naoki Nakagawa (477th in the live rankings) but had to come from behind to do so. His win took Kelly up to 426th in the live rankings and reaching the quarter finals will take him to 403rd. it's McCabe though who we believe will book his spot in the last eight.