Russia's Aslan Karatsev reacts as he plays against France's Adrian Mannarino during their men's singles match on day five of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 21, 2022. - -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE -- (Photo by William WEST / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE -- (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
Spain’s Pablo Andujar will take on Aslan Karatsev in the Round of 32 of the Maharashtra TATA Open
Pablo Andujar is coming into this tournament on the back of some ordinary performances on the ATP tour. The Spaniard had early exits in his previous two tournaments – the Tali Open and the ATP Challenger in France. Andujar had a disappointing 2022 season and will be looking to start the New Year on a high.
Andujar is a regular on the Challenger circuit and is often a pushover in the bigger ATP events. His stand-out result of 2022 came at the Australian Open. He made it to the third round of the Grand Slam before losing to home favourite and no.32 seed Alex de Minaur. Barring this result in January ’22, Andujar didn’t do anything of note throughout the rest of the year.
Karatsev is seeded no.8 in this tournament and will certainly be one of the favourites to clinch the title. Karatsev is coming to this event after a break of two months. His last event on the ATP tour was the Paris Masters, where he suffered a first-round exit back in October.
Karatsev has had a decent 2022 despite not having any particularly over-whelming results. He was consistent throughout the year and his quarter-final appearances at the Swedish and German Open were certainly his highlights of the year. Karatsev will be looking to begin 2023 on a positive note and live up to his seeding.
Details:
Date – Monday, 2nd January
Court Type – Outdoor Hard Court
Telecast – Tennis TV
Start Time – TBA
Location – Chennai
Match details – Round of 32
Head to head and Predictions
Andujar and Karatsev haven’t faced each other before on the ATP tour. This will be the first professional meeting between the two players. Karatsev is the clear favourite going into this match both in terms of experience and rankings. It will be an uphill task for Andujar in this encounter but he will pose a tough challenge. We are predicting a win in three sets for Aslan Karatsev.
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