Jiri Lehecka vs Pedro Martinez Prediction & Betting Tips - Beijing, China

Prediction published on 25/09/2024, 08:16  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 25/09/2024 at 09:16 in Tennis Predictions

The first round of the hard court China Open sees Jiri Lehecka face Pedro Martinez. The winner will face either fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov or a qualifier in the next round. Time for our match prediction.

Jiri Lehecka is at 37th in the latest rankings and a couple of places higher in the ATP Race. That latter ranking is significant as it’s been achieved despite being injured between April and August.

Earlier in the year, he won a hard court tournament in Adelaide and reached the last eight in both Dubai and Indian Wells. Since returning from injury, Lehecka has had some good results and beat Daniil Medvedev in Cincinnati. The third round was reached at the US Open but he lost both of his recent Davis Cup matches.

Pedro Martinez is 42nd in the most recent ranking list and a place higher in the ATP Live Race. Last week saw him get to the quarter-finals in Chengdu. He only had to win one match to get that far though and then lost to Yannick Hanfmann.

His best results this year have come on clay. He’s lost five of his last seven hard court matches. He did win a hard court Challenger Tour event but did so without beating any top 100 ranked players.

On the ATP Tour, he’s yet to win two successive matches in the main draw of a hard court tournament this year. We tip Lehecka to win this match in straight sets.