Max Purcell vs Marco Cecchinato Prediction & Betting Tips - Winston Salem, USA

Prediction published on 21/08/2023, 01:55  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 21/08/2023 at 06:00 in Tennis Predictions

Max Purcell and Marco Cecchinato, both unseeded, will face off on Monday at the Winston-Salem Open. The winner of this opening-round tie will play 16th-seed Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round. Max Purcell is having an amazing season with his performances seeing him break into the ATP top 50 for the very first time. He starts the week ranked 47th in the live ranking after making a 23-place jump. The Australian has been in fine form this past few weeks and has managed eight victories in his last 10 outings. Five of those victories came in Cincinnati where he rose from the qualifiers to make the quarterfinals for the first time. He lost in three sets to world number one and eventual finalist Carlos Alcaraz. Purcell has compiled a 47-18 record in 2023 with a massive 41 of those victories coming on hardcourt. One of those wins came against Cecchinato in qualifying at the Australian Open to extend his lead in this series to 2-0. The 25-year-old has played six challenger finals thus far winning three titles all coming on hard court.

Marco Cecchinato arrives for this match in woeful form. The Italian has managed only one victory in his last 11 outings. This highlights the form he has been on all year as he has lost 20 of the 33 matches he has played. Before arriving in Winston-Salem Cecchinato was defeated in the first round at the Banja Luka challenger on clay. This was the eighth first-round exit in his last nine tournaments. A former world number 16, Cecchinato has dropped out of the ATP top 100 and is currently ranked 109th in the world. He has played three matches on hard court this year with one of those losses coming against Purcell in Melbourne. The 30-year-old was forced to retire in the second set of that match while down 3-2.