ATP Tournament in Stuttgart, 2nd Round, Thursday, 15.06.2023
For Stefanos Tsitsipas the Boss Open in Stuttgart will start on Thursday. Greece’s number one has to face Richard Gasquet in the round of 16.
Tsitsipas is in good form. Will he make the transition to grass well? In my Tsitsipas Gasquet tip, I look at the best odds from the bookmakers and recommend a suitable bet for the match.
Tsitsipas was definitely hoping for more than a quarter-final spot at the French Open. But the seedings led to an early encounter with high-flyer Carlos Alcaraz, who sent him home in three sets.
It was not until the third set that the world number five found his way into the match, but in the end he also lost this one narrowly in a tiebreak (2-6, 1-6, 6-7). Nevertheless, he should start the grass-court season stronger than before.
32 of the 41 matches he has already played in 2023. His win rate on hard courts is currently even better than on red clay.
However, it was not enough for the big success this year. He was not able to win a tournament. In Madrid and Paris, Tsitsipas reached the quarter-finals, at the Rome Masters he lost to Daniil Medvedev one round later.
He also narrowly missed out on a Grand Slam success this year when he lost out to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final, losing two tiebreaks in the process.
Can he now lift his first trophy on grass? In Stuttgart he will start against Richard Gasquet. With odds of 1.25, he is the clear favourite on Thursday.
If the bet on Gasquet is successful, Bet365 will quadruple the stake. For Tsitsipas, it will be the first grass court match of the year – definitely a slight disadvantage against Gasquet.
The Frenchman is definitely more attuned after his successful first round match against Christopher Eubanks (7-6, 6-4). Gasquet converted 80 per cent of his first serves into points, 70 per cent even after serve number two.
At 37 years of age, he has already played 117 matches on the green court, but the 24-year-old Tsitsipas, with 40 matches under his belt, is no longer considered a newcomer.
Especially since he has been able to show his qualities on grass since last year. He has won eight of his eleven matches and won the 250cc tournament in Mallorca.
In Stuttgart and Halle he started with a win each. As in Halle, Nick Kyrgios was the last stop at Wimbledon, even making the Wimbledon final in 2022.
After last year’s performance and considering his current form, I expect a clear win against Gasquet. Bet365 offers odds of 1.80 for an even 2:0.
However, it should not be forgotten that grass is the Frenchman’s preferred surface. He made a strong start to the tournament against Eubanks.
However, in the last few months it was usually over after an opening win. Gasquet has played 15 tournaments since the Australian Open. Only once did he play more than two matches at one venue, at the Bordeaux Challenger in May.
In total, Tsitsipas and Gasquet have already met four times. In 2018, the then 19-year-old Tsitsipas prevailed over the Frenchman in Doha, who returned the favour six months later on grass after winning two tiebreaks.
At the All Lower Level two years later, it was again the Greek who came out on top. The last meeting in Miami in 2023 was not played because Gasquet could not compete.
The fact is that the players have not faced each other for three years and Tsitsipas is now playing at a much higher level than he once was.
Summary: Tsitsipas played a strong tennis season in 2023, mostly failing late in the tournaments. The tournaments have been very different for Gasquet, who has only managed more than one win once in the last five months.
The world number five already played strong grass court tennis last year. Moreover, his return game is very dangerous and Gasquet, at 1.83 metres, does not serve aces on the run.
I trust Tsitsipas to win the in two sets because of his greater qualities!
