Roman Safiullin vs Roberto Bautista-Agut Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Barcelona

Prediction published on 14/04/2024, 09:43  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 14/04/2024 at 10:43 in Tennis Predictions

Two unseeded players meet in round one of the outdoor clay court Barcelona Open. Roberto Bautista Agut faces Roman Safiullin with the winner taking on seventh seeded Karen Khachanov in round two. Agut is currently 84th in the live rankings and the Spaniard received a wild card to play in this ATP 500 tournament. He's 68th in the ATP Live Race and has made a steady start to the European clay court season. He got to the last 16 in Estoril and round two in Monte Carlo. Last year saw him get to the last 16 here and back in 2018 Agut got to the quarterfinals. He's had some good wins of late with both Dominic Thiem and Lorenzo Sonego beaten on this surface. His run in Monte Carlo ended with defeat to Hubert Hurkacz but he only lost 7-5 7-6.

Roman Safiullin is higher in the live rankings than his opponent. He's currently in 38th position but is down at 98th in the ATP Live Race. He wasn't expecting to be that low after beginning the year with a run to the semifinals in Brisbane. Having reached that stage of the outdoor hard court tournament, he then lost five matches in a row. Not since Brisbane has he managed to win two matches in a tournament. He did get a win in Monte Carlo last week, beating Jaume Munar. Then he took on top seed Novak Djokovic and only won three games. Four of his last six matches have ended in defeat. We tip Agut to get the win here.