Tommy Paul vs Andy Murray Prediction & Betting Tips - Aix en Provence, France

Prediction published on 06/05/2023, 14:04  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 06/05/2023 at 15:58 in Tennis Predictions

Challenger Tour events tend to be fought out by players way down the ATP rankings. That’s not the case this week as top seed Tommy Paul takes on the fifth seeded Andy Murray in the Open Aix Provence final. Both of these players had early exits in the Madrid Masters so took wild card entries to play in this tournament and get more clay court time. It’s worked well for both of them and it could see Paul go up a place to 16th in the rankings if he can win this final. The American had only played clay court tournaments in Houston and Madrid this year and lost both his matches. He’s had a good year with a semifinal in the Australian Open and getting to the final in Acapulco. He needs to get his clay court game sorted out though with Roland Garros on the horizon. This week has seen him get off the mark on clay with three straight sets wins and only 16 games conceded.

Andy Murray is a former finalist at Roland Garros but hasn’t played well on clay before arriving in Provence. Just like his opponent in this final, he lost both of his opening two clay court matches of the year. He applied for a wild card for this Challenger Tour event and must be delighted at how everything has progressed. Only being seeded fifth has helped him as that means he’s had to play right from the first round. He’s had four wins to get to this final with only one set dropped. Winning this title will take him up to 42nd in the rankings These two players have only had one previous meeting. That was on a hard court in 2021 with Paul winning in three sets. Murray does struggle against the higher ranked players and our tip is for the American to win this.