Max Purcell vs Tomas Machac Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Cincinnati Open

Prediction published on 11/08/2024, 08:53  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 11/08/2024 at 11:51 in ATP Cincinnati Open Predictions

Wild card Max Purcell faces unseeded Tomas Machac in round one of the Cincinnati Masters. For the winner, there's a second round match in this hard court tournament against either 16th seed Sebastian Korda or unseeded Pablo Carreno Busta. Here's our first round match prediction.

Max Purcell is 68th in the live rankings and must be glad he received a wild card into the main draw. Last week saw him beaten in the first qualifying round in Montreal, losing a set lead against Arthur Cazaux. That was his third successive defeat, all on hard courts.

The first of those defeats was in Atlanta, where he reached the quarter-finals. The only other last eight appearance he's made on hard courts in 2024 was in a Challenger Tour event.  His best form this year came on  grass when reaching the last four in Eastbourne.

Tomas Machac is 39th in the live rankings and did play in the main draw of the Rogers Cup but lost in round one to Alexi Popyrin who had a great tournament. The Czech has also had his best result of 2024 on another surface, reaching the Geneva clay court final.

He has better form than his opponent on hard courts and made it to the last eight in the Miami Masters. A quarter-final was also reached when playing in the indoor hard court tournament in Marseille. We tip Machac to win this match.