ATP Paris tournament, 1st round, Tuesday, 10/30/2023
A very difficult task awaits Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round at the Masters in Paris. The Warsteiner has to play against the winner of Basel. Struff failed in the same tournament against Hubert Hurkacz.
Auger-Aliassime prevailed against Hurkacz in the final. The 23-year-old is thus moving closer to his former top form. In my Auger-Aliassime Struff tip, I give an overview of the best odds.
He was a fixture in the Top 10 and then was slowed down by injuries. Auger-Aliassime hasn’t had it easy in recent months. At the US Open, French Open and at Wimbledon he already failed at the start.
But the man from Montreal is getting better and better. In Tokyo, he already reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Marcos Giron. Just one week later, he made his big breakthrough, winning the tournament in Basel.
Auger-Aliassime only lost one set before the tournament triumph. Alexander Shevchenko was able to put him in trouble in the meantime: 7-6, 3-6, 7-6.
He made a strong impression against Holger Rune (6-3, 6-2) and Hurkacz (7-6, 7-6). In a match without breaks, he kept the upper hand in the set deciders. He also did not surrender a service game against the Dane in the semifinals.
After this strong performance, he goes into his Paris Masters opener against Struff as the favorite. Interwetten has given the Canadian 1.43 odds, Struff is at 2.80.
Definitely still a great odds for the newly crowned Basel champion, who currently offers the stronger tennis, but last week had to play a whopping three games more. He still faced Hurkacz in the final on Sunday.
Struff is not a walk-in, he reached the finals in Madrid and Stuttgart this year and also performed well at the Masters in Monaco, reaching the quarterfinals in the small country.
Before Wimbledon he had problems with his hip, and like Auger-Aliassime he is still on a rehabilitation course. After his injury, Struff has won only two of his seven matches, against Cristian Garin (6-3, 1-6, 6-4) in Zhuhai and the Basel opener against Christopher Eubanks (7-6, 6-4).
But he still can’t consistently pull off the powerplay tennis with which he has already driven Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Co. to despair this year.
He is also struggling with his serve and allowed nine break points against Hurkacz. He also let something slip in the matches before and now he is facing one of the strong defensive players.
Due to his form low, I think a 2:0 for the Canadian is quite realistic, Interwetten serves betting enthusiasts a 2.15 odds for this market. Alternatively, the first set and match success at a 1.65 would also be a good option.
In any case, I assume that Auger-Aliassime will value a short match after the exhausting week in Basel and will be there from the start to save forces for the next tasks.
My Auger-Aliassime Struff Tip
Both players have been slowed down by injuries, while Auger-Aliassime made an important step to his old strength with the recent triumph in Basel, Struff stumbles in his game.
Will he be able to take the next step in Basel? The man from Montreal is definitely not the right opponent to improve further. I expect the fast Auger-Aliassime to come up with some breaks and play for a quick win against Struff.
My Auger-Aliassime Struff tip: 2:0 for Auger-Aliassime
