Ruud – Schwartzman

Diego Schwartzman will face Casper Ruud in the first round at Rio De Janeiro, on clay, with Schwartzman rated as a 1.30 odds favorite by the bookmakers.

Casper Ruud had a very good season so far for his standards, qualifying for the main draws at Auckland and Australian Open (where he reached the 2nd round, defeated by Schwartzman). After moving on clay, Ruud managed to reach the second round in Quito, but lost in the qualifiers to Checchinato last week in Buenos Aires. All in all, the Norwegian player seems to be on an upwards trend and is getting close to breaking the Top 100 for the first time in his career.

Diego Schwartzman is coming after a quarterfinal showing at his home tournament in Buenos Aires, where he was denied a better performance by the in form Aljaz Bedene. The Argentinean is playing well this year, having also reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, where he lost to Nadal, but not before taking a set from the Spaniard.

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Schwartzman leads the H2H 1-0 and the only meeting between the two players actually took place last month, when Schwartzman dominated Ruud for a 6-4 6-3 6-2 win at the Australian Open. They will now meet on clay, which is the favorite surface for both players, but you have to feel Schwartzman is more of an expert on it.

Caspeer Ruud has started the season well, but his wins mostly came on the qualifying draws of events, and he defeated just one Top 100 player this year. That was a win against Sandgren in early January, before Sandgren had his breakout performance at the Australian Open.

On clay Ruud is just 2-2 this year and didn`t look good last week in Buenos Aires when he lost 0-2 to Checchinato in the second qualifying round. He did take a set in a loss to Monfils a few weeks ago in Quito, but that wasn`t a good version of Monfils (he lost to Monteiro in the next round).

Schwartzman is in good form and he has always been a beast on clay. He also has the advantage of playing in South America, which will give him an advantage over a Norwegian guy like Ruud.

This looks like it should be a pretty straightforward win for Schwartzman, as he is the much better player and he is in good form, while facing a player who hasn`t proven much against Top 100 opponents. When you add the recent H2H meeting and the South American clay, backing Schwartzman to win in straight sets seems like a good idea.

My tip is Schwartzman to win 2-0. Prediction: Caspeer Ruud – Diego Schwartzman 5-7 3-6.

Pick: Schwartzman 2:0
Odds: 1.86 @ Unibet
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 6.02
Event date: 20 February