Stan Wawrinka vs Pavel Kotov Prediction & Betting Tips - Olympic Tournament

Prediction published on 26/07/2024, 08:31  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 26/07/2024 at 09:00 in Olympic Tournament Predictions

World number 62 Pavel Kotov has a first round match at the Olympics against Stan Wawrinka. The winner of this match will be up against either 16th seed Nicolas Jarry or unseeded Alexei Popyrin in round two. Here's our match preview and prediction.

Kotov is a neutral athlete in these games and is making his debut in the Olympics. The 25-year-old will be pleased that this tournament is being held on clay at Roland Garros. He played in the French Open here earlier this year and made it to round three including beating Wawrinka.

It took Jannik Sinner (who has withdrawn from this tournament) to defeat him. Kotov reached the last four in Marrakech this year and the quarter-finals in Lyon. His most recent tournament on this surface was in Bastad where he lost in his second match.

Stan Wawrinka is the world number.109 but was granted a place in this tournament as he is a former Grand Slam winner. That includes winning at Roland Garros nine years ago. Injuries have affected his career though and he's struggled to make it back up the rankings.

The 39-year-old Swiss player is playing in his third Olympic Games. He made his debut in 2008 and also played in London four years later. He's played three matches in the Olympics and only won one of them, none were on clay though.

His latest tournament was on clay in Gstaad and he lost in the first round.to Lukas Klein. He hasn't made it past the last 16 of a clay court tournament this year. Just one of his last six matches on this surface in ATP Tour clay court events have been won. We tip Kotov to win this match.