Roberto Bautista-Agut vs Marton Fucsovics Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Qatar Open

Prediction published on 19/02/2023, 09:53  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 19/02/2023 at 16:31 in Tennis Predictions

Fifth seeded Roberto Bautista Agut begins the defence of his Qatar ExxonMobil Open title. The Spaniard faces Marton Fucsovics in the first round with the winner up against either Fernando Verdasco or Chris O'Connell in round two. It's pretty true to say that Agut loves this tournament. He won it last year and also in 2018 plus being runner-up in the 2021 final. Of 15 matches played in this event, he's won 13 of them. Agut is 28th in the live rankings and has already reached one final this year. That was in the second Adelaide International tournament, losing to Soonwoo Kwon in the title decider. After that he reached the fourth round of the Australian Open but has lost both of his matches since then. Last week in Rotterdam he lost a marathon three-setter to Hubert Hurkacz that lasted 38 games.

Marton Fucsovics is down at 78th in the live rankings. That's well below his career high ranking of 31st four years ago. The Hungarian started this year by winning a title on the Challenger Tour. No player ranked in the top 130 was beaten that week. He had to go to three sets to beat the then world number 334 Marc Polmans in the last eight. He made it to the last 32 in the Australian Open losing a strange match against Jannik Sinner. Fucsovics won the first two sets but then only won three games in the next three sets. He lost both of his matches in Hungary's Davis Cup tie against France and then reached round two in Montpellier but withdrew from another match against Sinner due to a foot injury. He trails Agut 2-1 in previous meetings and the tip here is for Agut to get another win over Fucsovics.