Cameron Norrie vs Alex Molcan Prediction & Betting Tips - Lyon, France

Prediction published on 20/05/2022, 15:41  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 21/05/2022 at 00:30 in Tennis Predictions

Top seed Cameron Norrie bids to win his first ever ATP clay court title. He takes on unseeded Alex Molcan in the final of the Lyon Open. This is his third clay court final, the other two being played last year. Both ended in defeat and one was in this tournament to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Norrie needs all the confidence he can get as he's in the same part of the draw as Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros. The world number 11 has certainly been getting some time on court this week. He won his first match in straight sets but since then has been taken all the way by both  Sebastian Baez and in the semi final by Holger Rune who won the title in Munich this year.

Alex Molcan began the week ranked 47th but is up to a career high 38th in the live rankings. He'd move up to 32nd if winning on Saturday but that's too late to get him a seeding at Roland Garros. He might wish he was because Molcan may well face Novak Djokovic in Paris if getting past Federico Coria (who he's beaten this week) in round one. Before that first round match, Molcan is in a similar position to his opponent. He's also reached two ATP Tour clay court finals and lost them both. The Slovakian is in his second final of the year, having lost to David Goffin in the Marrakech final in April, where he had a win over Felix Auger-Aliassime. He didn't follow up that win well though and lost three of his next four matches. This week has gone better for him with wins over the soon to retire Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, fifth seeded Karen Khachanov, Frederico Coria and then fourth seed Alex de Minaur. He can make life difficult for Norrie and a bet on over 21.5 games looks the one to make.