Marin Cilic vs Oscar Otte Prediction & Betting Tips - Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

Prediction published on 04/10/2022, 06:49  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 04/10/2022 at 07:49 in Tennis Predictions

Ninth seeded Marin Cilic bids to reach the second round of the Astana Open. He takes on unseeded Oscar Otte with the winner up against Karen Khachanov in the second round. Cilic began this week ranked 14th and is 16th in the ATP Race. He reached the final in Israel last week, being beaten by Novak Djokovic, though only two matches had to be won to reach the title decider. Cilic has been climbing back up the rankings this year with several solid performances. He got to the last four at Roland Garros with wins over Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev before being beaten by Casper Ruud.  Securing a second round match against Khachanov would give him a chance to avenge a loss to the Russian in Doha this year. Another deep run here will boost his outside chances of making it into the Tour Finals.

Oscar Otte is the world number 55 but in June was a career high 36th. The German is not in good form at all with five losses in his last six matches on the ATP Tour. He also lost all three of his Davis Cup matches and is 54th in the ATP Race. His best performances this year have come on clay and grass with three semi-finals reached  Ths is being played on a hard court though and Cilic is in far better form. Back Cilic to get a straight sets win here.