Predictions to Win Moselle Open

insidersbettingdigest.com

07 November 2023

There’s just two tennis events left on the ATP schedule before the Nitto ATP Finals begin next week in Turin, Italy. All of the eight spots in the Finals have been determined, so these events – the Moselle Open and ATP Sofia – have relatively diminished fields.

With that said, six top-50 players are competing in the Moselle Open, an ATP 250 level indoor hard courts event taking place in Metz, France, from November 5-11.

Past Winners

This year’s tournament marks the 20th year of Moselle Open predictions. The tournament has been won by French players in 11 of the previous 19 years, with past winners including Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Gilles Simon. Neither of those players are present this year, leaving Ugo Humbert and Gregorie Barrere, among others, as the French players with the best tennis odds of winning the national tournament.

Lorenzo Sonego, the sixth seed who is into the second round after beating Marcos Giron 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the first round on Monday, is the defending champion. Hubert Hurkacz won the tournament in 2021, defeating Pablo Carreño Busta in straight sets in the final.

The Top Seeds

Holger Rune had previously committed to playing in Metz and was the top seed, but withdrew after securing his spot in the Nitto ATP Finals. That leaves Alex De Minaur as the top seed. He, along with Karen Khachanov, Ugo Humbert, and Alexander Bublik received byes into the second round in the 28-player tournament.

De Minaur, who has the best odds in tennis predictions to win the event, is coming off of a quarter-final appearance at the Rolex Paris Masters, where he lost to Andrey Rublev. He’s 5-3 in his last eight matches. Khachanov also reached the quarters in Paris before losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Humbert lost in the Round of 32 in Paris and Bublik reached the Round of 16 before losing to eventual finalist Grigor Dimitrov.

First Day Recap

The highlight of the first round was Barrere, a 29-year-old French player with a career ATP record of 34-54, beating seventh seed Yannick Hanfmann 7-6 (5), 6-4. He’ll face qualifier Harold Mayot, another French player who beat Yosuke Watanuki on Monday, in the second round. Sonego and Dominic Thiem are also through in the top half of the draw; Thiem defeated lucky loser Matteo Martineau in straight sets.

In the bottom half of the draw, Stan Wawrinka beat Bernabé Zapata Miralles 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the second round. Wild card Pierre-Hughes Herbert defeated fellow wild card Arthur Cazaux and another French player, Constant Lestienne, advanced to the second round with a win over Calvin Hemery.

Feature Matches

Ugo Humbert (-225) vs. Dominic Thiem (+175)

This is easily the most anticipated matchup in the Moselle Open predictions for the second round. Both players have won multiple titles and are ranked inside the top 100 in tennis stats, although Thiem would be much higher if he was healthy earlier this season. He beat Sonego, Christopher O’Connell, and Wawrinka in the Paris Masters last week. Humbert, meanwhile, is coming off of a close loss to Alex Zverev in the Round of 32 in Paris.

Although both players have been on the ATP for quite some time, Thiem and Humbert have never played each other in an official ATP event. Humbert beat Thiem in a Challenger event in France in 2022 and is again the expected favorite in tennis predictions for Tuesday’s match.

Constant Lestienne (+275) vs. Karen Khachanov (-350)

While there’s a lot to like in the underdog here given Lestienne will have the support of the home crowd, it’s hard to bet against Khachanov in Moselle Open predictions. The 27-year-old Russian is 33-17 this season, including 5-2 on indoor hard courts. He’s also 2-0 in two career matches against Lestienne and both wins have come in France, including most recently at the 2023 French Open.

Moselle Open Predictions

In looking at the draw, unless one of the many French players can catch lightning in a bottle and push through with the help of the crowd, this feels like a tournament that will be one by one of the top seeds looking to finish the season strong.