Nuno Borges vs Jack Draper Prediction & Betting Tips - Winston Salem, USA

Prediction published on 20/08/2023, 08:09  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 21/08/2023 at 06:00 in Tennis Predictions

Jack Draper makes his return to the ATP Tour in the Winston Salem Open. He takes on Nuno Borges in the first round of this outdoor hard court tournament. A tough challenge lies ahead for the winner with second seeded Tallon Griekspoor the scheduled round two opponent. Draper is 118th in the live rankings but was 38th in mid-January. Injuries have blighted his career and his last ATP Tour event was at Roland Garros where he had to retire injured in the first round.  That was his second retirement of the year. He's plummeted down the rankings after losing the points he earned when reaching the last eight in Montreal last year. The British player also got to the quarter finals in the 2022 Winston Salem Open. Draper returned to the courts last week when he was the top seed in the Challenger Tour event held in Winnipeg. He won two matches in straight sets before losing in the quarter finals to sixth seed Arthur Cazaux. He has reached one ATP hard court semi-final this year. That was in Adelaide, where he beat both Tommy Paul and Karen Khachanov, currently top 16 ranked players.

Nuno Borges is 79th in the live rankings which is 13 places below the career high he achieved in April of this year. The Portuguese player will be hoping for some success in this tournament. That wasn't the case in Cincinnati where he lost in the first qualifying round. That was his fifth successive defeat and he last won a match in the Challenger Tour grass court event in Nottingham in June where he got to the last four. His last win on the ATP Tour was when beating John Isner in the first round at Roland Garros. His best ATP hard court run was in Delray Beach where he reached the last 16 but no top 100 players were beaten. Borges has won two Challenger Tour tournaments on this surface this year. We go for Draper to get the win here.