The ATP’s visit to Marseille moves into the second round for some matches, but there are still some first-round matches which need to be completed. Both will get covered on Wednesday. On Tuesday, we saw a number of interesting results for tennis picks including a very disappointing outcome for the French fans. Gilles Simon, who was deemed to be one of the favorites to win the event and was a fan favorite, lost to Teymuraz Gabashvili in three sets. Simon fought tooth and nail, but ended up losing in a third set tiebreaker. That wasn’t the only surprise as one of our picks, Feliciano Lopez, fell in the first round too. He ended up losing to Sergiy Stakhovsky, also in a tiebreaker in the third set. We did get the Gulbis pick right as well as Nick Kyrgios, who had no problems with Vasek Pospisil in the opening round. He turned him away with a final score of 6-4, 6-4, once again illustrating how effective of a player he can be if he cuts out the shenanigans. The other players advancing on Tuesday included Mischa Zverev, Ernestis Gulbis and Andrey Kuznetsov. Here’s a three-match card with a mixture tennis picks on Wednesday:
Marin Cilic vs. Robin Haase
The fourth-seeded Cilic did not do well at the Australian Open, and even though he was the highest-ranked player in the recent Rotterdam indoor tournament, he didn’t win, and he didn’t even make the final. He lost in the quarterfinals to Philipp Kohlschreiber. That could all be viewed as reason to pick against Cilic here, but a point worth remembering is that if a player exits one tournament early, he is not as tired when he plays another tournament the very next week. That early loss in Rotterdam probably means that Cilic should be rested enough for this match. It would very well make the difference between victory and defeat. All other things being equal, Cilic won’t enter this match at a deficit. If he has a level playing field against a lower-ranked competitor, he should naturally win.
Tennis Picks: Cilic in straight sets
Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky
Odds: Wawrinka -500
This second-round battle is a tough match to predict, despite what you might think. Wawrinka is the top seed at the tournament and is very well rested. This might seem to make him an overwhelming favorite against Stakhovsky, a journeyman with inconsistent career results. Wawrinka should be the favorite, but this is where things get tricky. Wawrinka has bowed out of smaller tournaments a lot in his career, and it’s a tendency which has never fully gone away, even in his best (and more recent) years, when he’s won two Grand Slam titles and has established himself as a top-five player in the world. Wawrinka can be very frustrating for bettors who rely on him to win early matches in 250 or 500 tournaments.
Stakhovsky isn’t as good as Wawrinka, but he just played well in beating Feliciano Lopez. With that match under his belt, Stakhovsky should feel confident about his game and his ability to bother Wawrinka. Expect Wawrinka to be rusty, and for Stakhovsky to play well. This should lead to a close three-set match that could go either way. Take Wawrinka, but this match will probably not be very straightforward.
Tennis Picks: Wawrinka in three sets
Quentin Halys vs. David Guez
This is an oddball matchup in the first round on Wednesday, while other players such as Cilic and Wawrinka (with byes) move right into the second round. Halys is a 19-year-old, while Guez is 33. Both Frenchmen are outside the top 170, with Halys at 171 and Guez at 193. Halys has played five ATP matches in his career. Is that enough to guide him through this match in a home-nation professional tournament? He is certainly faster than a man 14 years older, but is he more experienced and ultimately up for the challenge? Guez is probably the safer bet in this case, though the match doesn’t feel like a lock in any direction.
Tennis Picks: Guez in three sets
