Miomir Kecmanovic vs Rinky Hijikata Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Shanghai Masters

Prediction published on 01/10/2024, 04:54  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 01/10/2024 at 05:21 in Shanghai, China Predictions

Could we see an all-Australian match in round two of the hard court Shanghai Masters? That will be the case as Australian Rinky Hijikata attempts to beat Miomir Kecmanovic and face 20th seed Alexei Popyrin in round two. Here's our match prediction.

Hijikata is 78th in the live rankings and that's 23 places below his opponent. The Australian was beaten in the final qualifying round in Tokyo last week by Mattia Bellucci. Before that,he beat Aleksandar Vukic with all three sets going to a tie-break.

His best recent performance was making it to the last eight of the hard court tournament played in Hangzhou, though he only won one match before losing to Brandon Nakashima due to a second round walkover being received.

The 23-year-old also reached the quarter-finals in Winston Salem two months ago and two other last eights earlier in the year. He leads Kecmanovic 1-0 in previous meetings, beating him in Los Cabos this year 6-3 7-6.

Miomir Kecmanovic lost in the first round of the China Open in Beijing last week. He was beaten in three sets by Tallon Griekspoor after winning the first on a tie-break. A bet on another being played here could be a winner.

The Serb has lost two of his last three matches. The other match played saw him beat Aristotelis Kanos in the Davis Cup and his opponent was ranked 713th at the time. Not since February has he won two consecutive matches in a hard court tournament.

We go for over 20.5 games to be played in this match.