Next opening defeat for Struff?
An exciting German-French duel between Hugo Gaston and Jan-Lennard Struff! Tip and betting odds are served by us. The Frenchman prevailed at the European Open 2023 in Antwerp in the last round against his compatriot Arthur Rinderknech.
With the victory, the professional from Toulouse put an exclamation mark. The last opponent ranks ahead of him in the world rankings and the success came in two sets.
His upcoming opponent only enters the Belgian Tournament with this match. As a seeded player, he was still free in the first round and in the seedings for the tournament, only the Greek Tsitsipas was placed ahead of him!
The Warsteiner thus takes the role of a favorite to win the tournament. For the match on the Scheldt between Hugo Gaston and Jan-Lennard Struff, the tip nevertheless aims for a success of the Frenchman.
Hugo Gaston – Statistics & current form
The southern Frenchman actually feels particularly comfortable on clay, but recently he has been making gains on hard court. At this year’s US Open, for example, he reached at least the second round for the first time in his career, having failed to qualify and reach the first round in his previous two appearances.
In addition, he can look back on a successful season by his standards. The 23-year-old still hasn’t won a title on the ATP Tour, but he now has three triumphs on the Challenger level to his name.
He has won two tournaments this year alone! First, he won the tournament in Iasi, Romania, last July, and then just one week later in Trieste, Italy. The start to the current competition in Flanders also went satisfactorily for the world number 96.
Service has room for improvement
Against Rinderknech, the serve did not sit, as can be seen from the fact that less than half of his first serves reached the court, but in contrast, his advances to the net turned out to be very successful. No less than 17 of his 23 net attacks ended with a point win for Gaston! On top of that, his service was even more stable in the first set than in the second.
In view of this, the odds on Hugo Gaston and Jan-Lennard Struff winning the first set are also worth considering. The additional forecast is available at Bet365, among others.
Jan-Lennard Struff – statistics & current form
Even four German players were represented at the beginning of the European Open 2023 in Antwerp and Struff takes the role of the top favorite in this circle of players. In the eyes of the betting public, however, he is not currently living up to that description.
The reason is his long injury break, from which he has only recently returned. After his injury at the end of June following the grass tournament in Halle, Westphalia, the Warsteiner had to leave his rackets in his sports bag for no less than three months.
It was not until the tournament in Zhuhai, China, in the middle of last month that he celebrated his return to the court. The right-hander immediately recorded a win on hard court against Chile’s Cristian Garin, but this was followed by a defeat against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
Although the latter is on a par with the world number 27 in terms of play, the defeat in two sets made it clear that Struff still needs time to get back to his strong form from the spring. He subsequently confirmed that verdict with two opening defeats at the tournaments in Beijing and Shanghai.
Will Gaston prevail without losing a set?
With that in mind, Hugo Gaston and Jan-Lennard Struff’s battle also lends itself to a prediction of a two-set win for the Frenchman.
Hugo Gaston – Jan-Lennard Struff Direct comparison / H2H balance
The only duel between Hugo Gaston and Jan-Lennard Struff so far took place in April this year in Marrakech on clay. On that occasion, the Frenchman prevailed 2-1.
Hugo Gaston – Jan-Lennard Struff Tip
In the match between Hugo Gaston and Jan-Lennard Struff, the tip includes a defeat of the Warsteiner. Although the German is ranked almost 70 places higher in the world rankings and is seeded second at the European Open 2023, his long injury break is obviously having an effect.
Since his successful comeback last month, Struff has consistently conceded defeat in his other three outings. The lack of competitive practice is thus clearly noticeable to him.
Furthermore, his opponent has been stable lately. At the recent Challenger tournament in Mouilleron-le-Captif, France, he made it to the quarterfinals and at the current tournament in Antwerp, he beat the favored compatriot Rinderknech in two sets in the last round.
Another factor in favor of the Gaston vs. Struff prediction is that the Frenchman has won the only matchup so far this year. Admittedly, the victory came on clay, a surface on which Gaston feels particularly comfortable, but he has also been convincing on hard court recently with four wins and only two losses.
