Philip Sekulic vs Hiroki Moriya Prediction & Betting Tips - Burnie, Australia

Prediction published on 31/01/2023, 08:01  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 31/01/2023 at 10:36 in Tennis Predictions

Seventh seeded Hiroki Moriya takes on unseeded Philip Sekulic. This is the second round (last 16) of the Burnie International Challenger Tour event in Australia. The winner will face either top seeded James Duckworth or qualifer Jake Delaney in the last eight. Moriya began this Challenger Tour event ranked 319th but eight years ago was a career-high 143rd. He's up to 306th in the live list and beating Sekulic will take him back into the top 300 after starting the year in 270th position. He didn't play the Australian Open this year, instead taking part in all three of the Challenger Tour events held in Nonthaburi, Thailand. It wasn't a good start to the new year though as he lost all three of his matches. All the defeats were against players ranked in the top 300, the highest one being Yu Hsiou Hsu. He only won 12 games in those three games so his year can only get better. It has though with a first round win in Burnie, beating qualifier Daisuke Sumizawa for the loss of six games.

A second win of the week looks likely here as Phillip Sefulic is only the world number 580 in the latest ranking list. The Australian's career-high ranking is 493rd, achieved last October. He's up to 556th in the live list and beating the seventh seed will see him rise to 513rd. The 19-year-old, has also had a slow start to the new year. He played in the Challenger Tour event held in Noumes in New Caledonia and lost to Jake Delaney who was ranked 1226th at the time. He then played in the Australian Open but lost in the first qualifying round to Yosuke Watanuki who was ranked 136th at the time. Sefulic didn't win any sets in either of those matches but finally found some form this week. He beat world number 355 MC Romios in straight sets to reach the second round. This is tougher though and we believe it'll be Moriya who justifies his seeding for this tournament.