Rinky Hijikata vs Jaume Munar Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Italian Open

Prediction published on 08/05/2024, 06:13  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 08/05/2024 at 21:00 in ATP Italian Open Prediction

Jaume Munar will be confident of making it into round two of the Italian Open. The Spaniard faces fellow unseeded player Rinky Hijikata in this outdoor clay court tournament. Up next for the winner is a match against the 27th seed Cameron Norrie. Munar is 65th in the live rankings and that's 12 places above his opponent. He reached the final of the Challenger Tour event held in Aix-en Provence last week, losing to top 40 ranked player Alejandro Tabilo. That was a lower tour event but had a good set of players with them looking for some time on court after an early exit in Madrid. Munar had good wins over Thomas Martin Etcheverry, Roman Safiullin and Marcos Giron, all top 55 ranked players. Earlier this year he reached the last eight in both the Cordoba and Santiago clay court tournaments.

Rinky Hijikata is playing his first tournament since getting to the quarter-finals of a Challenger Tour hard court event in Acapulco last month. He lost to Alexis Galarneau who was ranked 170th at the time and his two wins were against players ranked outside the top 300. On clay this year, Hijikata played in the US clay court championships but lost in the second round. The Ausralian is making his debut in the Italian Open and his only appearance at Roland Garros saw him lose in the first qualifying round. His one clay court title came three years ago on the World Tennis Tour. We tip Munar to win this in straight sets.