ATP tournament in Cordoba, round of 16, Thursday, 07.02.2024
While some tennis stars continue to hit the balls around their ears on the hard courts, Yannick Hanfmann, among others, is getting involved on the red clay in Cordoba, Argentina. The 59th player in the world has survived the first round.
At the 250 tournament, he will now continue in the round of 16 against Roman Burruchaga, who was able to hold his own against the still struggling Diego Schwartzman.
On paper, Hanfmann is favored against the local hero, but the 1.60 odds from Interwetten are still in an absolutely playable range and my choice for the match
Hanfmann will be rubbing his hands with glee that there are now some lucrative clay court tournaments coming up again in the next few weeks. After all, the red clay is his favorite surface, on which he worked his way into the top 50 for the first time in his career last year.
He will be playing in Cordoba right at the start of the South American tour before heading to Buenos Aires and Rio. After difficulties at the start, he was able to turn the first round in his favor against Juan Pablo Varillas: 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
In total, the player from Karlsruhe grabbed five breaks, was very efficient with eight chances and even fended off six out of ten break opportunities. A success that gives him a boost for the next tasks
He has had less fun on hard court recently. In 2024, he only managed to win the opening match in Brisbane against Sebastian Korda. This was followed by defeats against James Duckworth and Lorenzo Sonego.
At the Australian Open, he also had to retire after the first round, with fan favorite Gael Monfils prevailing in three sets. However, he had fun in the doubles, where he and Dominic Koepfer reached the semi-finals.
Now the focus is on the Cordoba round of 16 against Burruchaga, Interwetten has assigned the German a 1.60, which puts Hanfmann slightly ahead of the Argentinian (2.20).
He is facing 170 for the first time, but he should not underestimate him due to his ranking. After all, he is currently climbing up the world rankings and has already made his mark on clay court 2024.
In the first round, he defeated the former top 10 player Diego Schwartzman on his favorite surface, taking six service games from the veteran.
However, Schwartzman has been in a slump in form for over a year, has fallen out of the top 100 and recently failed to qualify for Melbourne.
But the success against his compatriot was no flash in the pan. In qualifying, Burruchaga sent Marco Cecchinato off the field at breakneck speed. He had no problems in the first qualifying round either
The 22-year-old had already played his way onto clay last week in Uruguay, reaching the semi-finals in Punta Del, but had to concede the final to Thiago Agustin Tirante in the last four without a fight.
This is his first time in the Cordoba main draw. Hanfmann doesn’t have fond memories of his first tournaments in the Argentinian city: in 2023, he was eliminated in the qualifying round and in 2022, he lost in two rounds to Juan Ignacio Londero.
But after last year’s failure, things have steadily improved for Hanfmann, who even reached the quarter-finals of the Masters in Rome. Due to this rise in performance on the red clay, a quick 2:0 win at 2.62 odds is also conceivable.
However, a betting configurator combination of a Hanfmann victory and no tiebreak in the match is also recommended at 2.20 odds. After all, his opponent only played one of the last 71 clay court sets!
My hemp man Burruchaga tip
Hanfmann has been able to take more and more points from Varillas after initial difficulties. Now he will face Schwartzman’s conqueror Burruchaga, who has won all six clay court matches he has competed in so far in 2024.
However, the man from Karlsruhe, who played his best tennis of his career on the red clay in 2023, is probably still a size too big for the 22-year-old.
That’s why I’m backing the Karlsruhe native to win, who will be the biggest opponent of all for the 170 in the world.
My Hanfmann Burruchaga tip: Victory Hanfmann
