Andreas Gora/dpa

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Francisco Cerundolo: ATP Basel – first round

Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Francisco Cerundolo in the opening round of ATP Basel.

Stefanos Tsitsipas Profile

Former world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas is currently 11th in the ATP rankings. The Greek is 42-20 for the season and 2-1 in indoors matches.

Tsitsipas is coming off a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Jiri Lehecka in the round of 16 in Antwerp.

He won the title in Monte Carlo this season and lost the final in Barcelona.

His best result in Basel is the semifinal in 2019 when he lost to Roger Federer.

Francisco Cerundolo Profile

Francisco Cerundolo is 30th in the ATP rankings while his career high was No. 19. The Argentinian is 31-29 for the season and 3-1 on hard surface.

Cerundolo is coming off a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Gabriel Diallo in semifinal in Almaty.

He won the title in Umag this season.

This will be his first appearance in Basel.

Head-to-Head

This will be the first match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Francisco Cerundolo.

Prediction and Conclusion

It is obvious that Stefanos Tsitsipas simply is not the player he used to be a couple of years ago. He doesn’t have the winning instinct, and the confidence is just not there. Just like him, Francisco Cerundolo has also dropped in the rankings and is struggling, especially on hard surfaces. As the season is getting closer to the end, Tsitsipas’ chances to finish the year in the top 10 are getting slimmer, so if he wants to achieve that, he needs to go deep in Basel. Therefore, we go with him to win this game by covering the -3.5-game spread.