Pavel Kotov vs Lorenzo Sonego Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Qatar Open

Prediction published on 18/02/2024, 08:58  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 18/02/2024 at 09:58 in Tennis Predictions

Lorenzo Sonego faces Pavel Kotov in the first round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The two unseeded players are fighting it out for the right to meet third seed Ugo Humbert in round two. Sonego will be looking to improve on the performances he's had so far this year. Only two of his seven matches have been won and he's now 49th in the live rankings which is considerably below his career high of 21st achieved three years ago. He's only 140th in the Live ATP Race and is yet to get past the second round of an ATP tournament this year. He hasn't had the easiest of matches though and those beating him this year have included Alexander Zverev, Sebastian Korda, Carlos Alcaraz and last week in Rotterdam, Grigor Dimitrov. Bright spots have included a win over Daniel Evans at the Australian Open and he did take a set off Alcaraz.

Pavel Kotov won the only previous meeting between these players. That was at last year's Stockholm Open played four months ago. That was on an indoor hard court but this match is being played on an outdoor hard court. Kotov is currently 97th in the ATP Live Race, 43 places ahead of his opponent. In the live rankings he's in 63rd position. That's only two places below his career best and he'll be looking to set a new one this week. Kotov is playing only his third tournament of the year. In Hong Kong, he reached the quarter finals and was beaten in round two of the Australian Open. This should be a close match but we believe Kotov can get the win.