Roberto Bautista-Agut vs Soonwoo Kwon Prediction & Betting Tips - Adelaide 2, Australia, Qualifying

Prediction published on 13/01/2023, 09:22  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 13/01/2023 at 18:30 in Tennis Predictions

Fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut take on lucky loser Kwon Soonwoo in the Adelaide International 2 fInal. Bautista Agut won two titles last year on the ATP Tour, the last being in July. Winning this tournament would be a great boost just days before the Australian Open begins. He's seeded 24th for the first Grand Slam of the year and has been drawn against Joao Sousa in the first round. The Spaniard began this week ranked 26th in the world but is up to 25th in the live rankings and can climb a further place if winning this final. This is his second tournament of the year and he's made a solid start to 2023. He played in the first Adelaide International and beat Andrey Rublev in the first round before losing to eventual runner-up Sebastian Korda. This week has gone even better with wins over Robin Hasse (another lucky loser), seventh seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and in the semi-final he got a win over defending champion Thanasi Kokkinakis in three sets.

Kwon Soonwoo would not have expected in a million years to be in this final. That's because he lost to Tomas Machac in the final qualifying round. After some withdrawals he was put into the main draw as a lucky loser and he's certainly made the most of his good fortune. The first round saw him get an immediate rematch with Machac and this time he beat him in straight sets. He then defeated second seeded Pablo Carreno Busta after losing the first set and demolished qualifer Mikael Ymer in the last eight, losing just three games. He had a tough semi-final but beat Jack Draper in three sets. This is only his second ATP Tour final, the other was in Kazakhstan two years ago, where he beat James Duckworth. He began this week ranked 84th but is up to 66th and can climb to 52nd if beating Agut.