Mili Poljicak vs Lorenzo Sonego Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Umag Open

Prediction published on 21/07/2024, 11:00  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 21/07/2024 at 11:42 in Tennis Predictions

Unseeded Lorenzo Sonego faces wild card Croatian Mili Poljicak in the first round of the Croatia Open. Next up for the victor is a second round match against either eighth seed Matteo Arnaldi or unseeded Alexandre Muller.

Sonego is currently 54th in the live rankings and will want to be playing well on clay this week. That's because he has qualified to play for Italy at Roland Garros in the Summer Olympics. This is his first tournament since losing in the second round at Wimbledon.

On clay this year, Sonego has reached a quarter-final in Marrakech and the last four of a Challenger Tour event held in Turin. He lost in the second round at Roland Garros, being beaten by Zhizhen Zhang. This is his first match against Poljicak.

His opponent will have the home fans cheering him on but that might not be enough. The Croatian was ranked 524th in the last published list and up to 483rd in the live rankings after receiving a wild card to play this week.

He's 20-years-old but his days as a teenager only ended on July 13. This is his first ATP Tour main draw match of the year. He's been playing on the ITF and Challenger Tour and has had some success in 2024 with five ITF finals reached.

On clay, he recently won the ITF tournament held in Umag. That followed a run to another ITF title decider but that was played on a hard court. This is a big step up though and we tip Lorenzo Sonego to win in straight sets.