Pavel Kotov vs Christopher O'Connell Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Chengdu Open

Prediction published on 17/09/2024, 16:12  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 17/09/2024 at 16:19 in Tennis Predictions

Pavel Kotov takes on Christopher O’Connell in round one of the Chengdu Open. The winner faces the top seed Lorenzo Musetti in their next match. Read our prediction below.

O’Connell is the world number 75 and reached the last eight of this hard court tournament in 2023. Last week saw him win the Challenger Tour event held in Guangzhou but didn’t beat any top 100 ranked players.

The Australian reached the last 32 of the US Open in his last ATP tournament. That included beating seeded Nicolas Jarry before losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. His only ATP Tour hard court quarter-final of the year came in Adelaide eight months ago.

Pavel Kotov is 61st in the latest rankings but was a career-high 50th three months ago. The Russian has been inconsistent of late, though he did get to the last eight of the hard court tournament held in Winston Salem in August.

Of his last eight hard court matches, the only two wins he’s had were in that Winston Salem tournament. His only other ATP Tour hard court quarter-final was reached in his first tournament of the year in Hong Kong.

He’s had two previous matches against O’Connell, and they are 1-1. However, he lost their only match played on a hard court. We tip O’Connell to get the win here.