Betdistrict.com
Adrian Mannarino and Marsel Ilhan will square off in the first round of the ATP Rome Masters Series tournament, with the odds on the Frenchman dropping as we speak.
Mannarino was brilliant on hard courts in the first part of the season, playing a semifinal and one final, defeating guys like Bautista Agut, Wawrinka or Fognini. However, the caly court season was not kind with Adrian so far as he lost both of his matches, to Granollers and Isner – not surprising, considering that he doesn’t particularly like this surface. The loss to Grannolers was awful (3-6 0-6), but last week he played much better against Isner (6-7 4-6).
Ilhan is more of a hardcourt player himslef, but it can be argued that he is more friendly with clay than Mannarino. Nevertheless, this didn’t help him to achieve any success on the red dirt this season – his best performance being a final at the hometown Mersin challenger. Last week Ilhan lost to Gimeno Traver in the Madrid qualies 2nd round, but he avenged that defeat with an emphatic 6-4 6-1 win over Gimeno here in Rome. Ilhan played qualies and also defeated Gianluca Mager 6-4 7-5, though it was a much tighter clash than it should have been against a player ranked outside of the Top 400.
Bet on Mannarino vs. Ilhan and claim your 100% welcome bonus at Bet365 now!
The Head 2 Head is 0-0, the two players never met before on tour. There isn’t particular matchup advantage for either one of them, also both prefer hard courts over clay.
Mannarino isn’t looking particularly well right now, but he’s having the best season of his career, breaking Top 30 and he’s due to get a couple of results on clay, even if he doesn’t like it that much. His match with Isner last week showed a clear improvement and I expect a decent showing from Adrian today – a mediocre game from him should be enough to defeat Ilhan. Marsel is clearly the inferior player here, he’s not in great form himself and he doesn’t like clay much more than Mannarino does.
There’s serious value in these odds and I`m not surprised they are dropping. Not a sure thing this bet (what is?), Mannarino has days when he does not show up, but I reckon the Frenchman has about 60% chances to win this – so I`m all over him at this price. My tip is Mannarino to win. Prediction: Adrian Mannarino – Marsel Ilhan 7-5 2-6 6-1.
Live streaming for ATP Rome Masters available for all players at Bet365.com.
Pick: Mannarino
Odds: 2.02 @ Unibet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 8.16
Event date: 11 May
