Mannarino – Wang

Frenchman Adrian Mannarino will take on Jimmy Wang from Chinese Taipei in the first round of the last grass court event of the season at Newport.

Mannarino had a pathetic 2014 season until last week, when he managed to win the Winnetka challenger, played on hard. The frenchman is a streaky and inconsistent player, he can play pretty good tennis when he`s at his best, but that rarely happens – it didn`t happen at all this year, even last week in Winnetka. I actually watched a lot of matches in that challenger and the level was really poor, Mannarino himself played some dreadful tennis at times but was able to raise his level a bit in the final stages and fend off poor opposition to win the title.

Jimmy Wang is a fine grass court player and had arguably the best tournament in his career at Wimbledon, reaching the 3rd round (lost to Tsonga) after passing the qualies and defeating Youzhny in 4 sets in the 2nd round. Wang played really solid tennis, he was actually brilliant against Youzhny, but he will have to keep up that level of play if he is to return to the top 100.

The H2H is 0-0, this will be the first meeting between the two players. The matchup analysis does not reveal any big advantages for either competitor. Both are good grass court players, Mannarino is more versatile and the better player overall, but Wang has a better serve and is more consistent, maybe his game is also a little bit better suited for grass – which will work in his favor at Newport, a tournament that always favors big servers and a traditional grass court style of play.

Mannarino has been really poor for a long time, losing to all sorts of players, and the win at Winnetka actually makes a bet on Wang more valuable, giving him better odds. Mannarino’s title run last week was not so impressive considering the level of tennis and the opposition, also he will now have to change surfaces, which is always a challenge. Additionally, Mannarino is so inconsistent, even in his best days he was not able to put together 2 good tournaments in a row, so considering this, his overall form in 2014 and the surface change, there`s every chance he will play poorly today. Even if he won`t, Wang will surely push him to the edge, the Taiwanese is a fine grass player in some of the best form of his life. My tip is Wang to win and the odds on this bet are dropping. Prediction: Adrian Mannarino – Jimmy Wang 6-7 2-6.

Pick: Jimmy Wang
Odds: 2.00 @ Bet365
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 7
Event date: 8 July