Can Marterer upset the US boy?

The first day of the tournament on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon brought almost standard rule interruptions. At least the weather forecasts for the coming days seem to be quite positive. The first matches in the second round of the main competition are scheduled for Wednesday. From the German point of view, the duel between the US American Frances Tiafoe and Maximilian Marterer will be interesting.

24-year-old Frances Tiafoe is seeded number 23 at the All England Tennis Championships and is therefore considered the clear favourite by the bookmakers. After all, Marterer initially struggled through the qualifiers, but was able to confirm his strong form against Aljaz Bedene and celebrated his first win in the main draw at Wimbledon. On Wednesday, the betting odds between Tiafoe and Marterer are currently offered at 1.20 for the US boy, while the German is even offered more than four times that amount.

Favourite Tiafoe should by no means complain about an unlucky draw, because the match against Marterer is his second duel against a qualifier. In the first round he needed three sets against the Italian Vavassori. Will he manage another sweep? Marterer certainly has the self-confidence to upset the house favourite

Frances Tiafoe – Statistics & current form

The name Frances Tiafoe has been a household name for tennis fans for some time now; it is all the more surprising that the US boy is still only 24 years young. In his younger years, he was already able to prove himself on the ATP Tour and, for example, reached the final in Estoril, Portugal, in 2018, which he lost outright. In Vienna 2021 and Estoril this year, he also reached the final, but was again defeated in two sets. Thanks in part to these two strong results, Tiafoe has gradually established himself among the world’s elite.

Not a good preparation on grass

Although he has yet to win a title on the big tour, he has already celebrated six tournament victories at Challenger level. His last success was the Challenger in Nottingham on grass just under a year ago. Tiafoe has a strong serve and normally generates a lot of free points. The fast grass surface suits his style of play perfectly.

All the more surprising were the two appearances in 2022 in the run-up to the classic at Wimbledon. Both at the Queens Club in London and in Eastbourne, he conceded defeat in three sets in the first round. Stan Wawrinka and Alexander Bublik are certainly two opponents you can lose to, yet the US American was generally considered the favourite in both matches.

He also had this role on Monday against the Italian Andrea Vavassori. Three wins in the qualifiers basically speak for a certain quality, but Vavassori had a very lucky draw, because before these three wins he had never won a match on grass. A passable performance was enough for Tiafoe to wrap up the victory in three sets. In particular, the high number of errors made by the Italian (ten double faults) tipped the scales in Tiafoe’s favour.

However, the performance of the seeded player was not convincing. In this respect, doubts are justified as to whether his second round match will be as one-sided as the betting odds suggest. The German certainly has more to offer than Vavassori and accordingly a bet on at least a set win for the German is recommended between Tiafoe and Marterer.

Maximilian Marterer – Statistics & current form

In 2018, Maximilian Marterer reached the last 16 of the French Open and experienced the best period of his career. In the meantime, he was already ranked number 45 in the world, but major injury problems and many setbacks followed. The top 100 was no longer an issue, Marterer was also ranked outside the top 200 for a long time. He is currently ranked 172 in the world and struggled to qualify for his third Grand Slam tournament.

The difficult way back

The last few years have not been easy at all for the Nuremberg player. Big money is not earned on the Challenger Tour and the jump back onto the big stage is by no means easy. In recent weeks and months, however, a clear upward trend can be seen. At the clay court Challenger in Perugia, he also had to compete in the qualifiers and was only stopped in the semi-finals.

Sooner or later, a double-digit ranking is the goal. All the more bitter is the fact for players like Marterer that no points will be distributed on the sacred turf of Wimbledon this year. For the top players, this is possibly annoying, but not forward-looking. In Marterer’s case, making it to the second GS round would mean a big leap forward. Now the current performances at least allow a financial margin for the next months.

In the second round of a GS tournament for the fourth time

Marterer didn’t have any absolute top opponents in front of him in the qualifiers either, which made his strong performance against Bedene in the first round all the more surprising. Even two rain interruptions did not upset him. After 3:04 hours, the victory was certain, it was his first success in the main draw of Wimbledon and only the fourth time overall that he made it past the first round of a GS tournament.

Tiafoe is certainly not in top form at the moment, Marterer on the other hand can compete with a broad chest and has nothing to lose. The chance that the match will be closer than the bookmakers suggest is relatively high. The game handicap of +/- 5.5 games is set relatively high. Tiafoe is not the most convincing return player, so the sets will probably be close. Therefore, a forecast in the direction of Marterer +5.5 games is recommended for Tiafoe against Marterer. Especially if the German wins the set, this bet will probably be successful. However, a 7:5, 6:4, 7:6 in favour of Tiafoe would also be sufficient.

Frances Tiafoe – Maximilian Marterer Direct comparison / H2H record

Head to Head: 2:0

In August 2017 in Cincinnati as well as in October 2018 in Tokyo, the US American and the German faced each other on the ATP Tour. Frances Tiafoe clearly won both of these duels, and Maximilian Marterer was unable to win a set in either match.

Frances Tiafoe – Maximilian Marterer Tip

Despite an even record of 13 wins and 13 losses each, Frances Tiafoe is still ranked in the top 30 in the world. However, the current performances do not necessarily correspond to his current capabilities. Despite the clear three-set victory in the first round, Tiafoe cannot be said to be in top form. Accordingly, there is no value to be found in the odds for the favourite in the second-round duel between Tiafoe and Marterer.

Marterer’s world ranking does not correspond to his qualities either, but in the opposite sense, because the player from Nuremberg is certainly not a player ranked 170. He has proved this impressively in the last few days, the form curve after the many problems is clearly pointing upwards. Whether the surprise will succeed is certainly questionable. But he will certainly be an unpleasant opponent and that is why we recommend betting six units between Tiafoe and Marterer when betting on Marterer +5.5 games