Pablo Carreño-Busta vs Alex Michelsen Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Winston-Salem Open

Prediction published on 23/08/2024, 05:51  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 23/08/2024 at 06:41 in Tennis Predictions

Alex Michelsen is the 11th seed for the hard court Winston Salem Open. He takes on wild card Pablo Carreno Busta for a place in the final. With Michelsen turning 20 on the 25th, can he have an early birthday present? Here's our match prediction.

The American teenager (not for long though) is a career-high 51st in the rankings and winning this match can improve that ranking to 48th. He's never won an ATP Tour title and only reached two finals, both in the Hall of Fame Open.

That's a grass court tournament but he has reached nine hard court finals on lower level tours, winning four of them. He's continuing his good form after a recent quarter-final in Washington. He had a tough quarter-final in this event.

Christopher Eubanks took him to a final set in a match that saw 38 games played with the final two sets both decided by a tie-break. Before that marathon he'd beaten Marton Fucsovics and Zizou Bergs, both in straight sets. 

Eight years ago when Michelsen wasn't even a teenager, Pablo Carreno Busta won the Winston Salem Open. That's one of four hard court titles he has won with his last win being a Masters tournament in 2022. He's also reached two US Open semi-finals.

He was only ranked 299th at the start of this tournament  after time out due to injury but is up to 213th in the live list. This is his first semi-final of the year but he only began playing in May. WIns have come against Omni Kumar, 13th seed Alexander Shevchenko and unseeded Aleksandar Vukic.

The latter of those matches saw him taken to three sets. In his quarter-final, Busta beat another American teenager Learner Tien in straight sets. This could be a close match and we go for over 21.5 games to be played.