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Gilles Simon and Dominic Thiem will battle it out for a place in the Toronto Masters second round.
Simon had a very poor year by his standards, an analysis of his season will reveal that he did show glimpses of his best tennis at times but overall he was disappointing and even dropped out of the top 30. Gilles had to retire in his first match at Gstaad two weeks ago because of dizziness and nausea but that was not a serious issue and he’s ready now to try and regain some form at a tournament he really likes. Simon really needs points right now so expect him to be focuses here in Toronto.
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Bet with the best odds and highest limits at Pinnacle. |
Thiem had a brutal last week, reaching his first ATP tour level final at Kitzbuhel (lost to Goffin) but having to play 3 matches in 2 days, including a tough 3 setter on Sunday. The young Austrian is one of the best talents on tour and produced his best level of tennis last week – however, he is yet to find consistency in his game, alternating excellent matches with very poor ones, and even in Kitzbuhel he produced some bad unforced errors despite the fact that he had the best performance of his career.
The H2H is 1-1 (Thiem leads 1-0 on hard). The Austrian won in Indian Wells this year, but the last meeting was won by Simon in Nice. The matchup analysis between the two is rather simple, Thiem is an offensive player, looking to hit winners past Simon, Gilles is somewhat of a pusher, keeping the ball in play, but also being able to switch to offense – a really clever guy. If Simon is in his best form, he will always defeat an inexperienced attacking player like Thiem, but lately the frenchman was a little bit scrappy with his tennis.
I can`t see Thiem coming up with his best level of tennis today after just ending a marathon weekend in Kitzbuhel. He needs to change surfaces, continents, and he also has to deal with reaching the first final of his career – and losing it. Indeed, Simon did not play his best tennis this season but he did show a decent level, I`d say he was above mediocre. The frenchman is a seasoned player, a defensive baseliner, and I`m sure he will know how to capitalize on Thiem’s fatigue and inconsistency. Expect Simon to force Thiem to hit another shot, and the young Austrian will eventually be betrayed by unforced errors. Simon usually comes up big in these kind of matches in the pre US Open series so I am confident on tipping him to win. You might want to take this bet early, as the odds on Simon to win are going downhill. Prediction: Gilles Simon – Dominic Thiem 7-6 6-3.
Pick: Simon
Odds: 1.75 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 6
Event date: 5 August
