Miomir Kecmanovic vs Daniel Evans Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Japan Open

Prediction published on 05/10/2022, 08:55  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 05/10/2022 at 09:56 in Tennis Predictions

Eighth seeded Dan Evans takes on unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic in the Rakuten Open second round. The winner will face either fourth seeded Frances Tiafoe or Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the quarter finals. Evans began this week ranked 25th in the world, that's three places below his career high achieved last year. The British number two has reached two semi-finals in the past month or so. The most recent of those was in San Diego but before that he got to the last four in the Toronto Masters. This week has seen him have a tough battle in the first round. He lost a first set tie-breaker to Radu Albot but battled back well to wi the next two sets for the loss of just five games.

Miomir Kecmanovic is ranked 33rd and in June was a career high 30th. His win over Yoshihito Nishioki (who beat Evans last week in Seoul) has taken him up a place in the live rankings. A couple more wins will see him climb to his highest ever ranking. He also had problems in the first round and lost the first set to Nishioko 6-2. He needed to win a second set tie-break to stay in the match and then rattled off the final set for the loss of only two games. Kecmanovic needed t hat win as he'd lost his previous three matches. Last week saw him beaten by Aleksandr Kovacevic who was ranked 222nd in the world. His best resuts this year have come on clay.  Only once has he faced Evans and he won that match but it was on clay at Roland Garros last year. The last four ATP tournaments he has played have seen him fail to get past the last 32. Go for Evans to win this but it might take three sets.