Pouille – Karlovic

Ivo Karlovic will try to claim his first win of the year when he meets Lucas Pouille in the second round at the Nastase Tiriac Trophy (Bucharest, red clay), but the Frenchman will be the obvious favorite coming into this match.

Lucas Pouille is in the form of his life right now, coming off two Round 16 showings at the Masters events in Miami and Monte Carlo, where he defeated players like Richard Gasquet or David Ferrer. Pouille showed the same level and intensity here at the Nastase Tiriac Trophy, playing a solid match in the first round to defeat Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-4. The young Frenchman is having an excellent year overall and it looks like this will be a breakout season for him – if it isn’t already.

Ivo Karlovic, who had a bye in the first round, is having a dreadful start of the year – it really could not have been any worse. Due to poor play and injuries, Karlovic lost all 5 matches he played in 2016, failing to claim a single win. Big Ivo came back on tour in Monte Carlo last week after a 6 weeks layoff and was defeated relatively easy by Joao Souza, 3-6 6-7. Karlovic had a bye in the first round here in Bucharest, so the match against Souza was the only one he played on clay in 2016.

Bet on Lucas Pouille vs Ivo Karlovic with the highest tennis odds at 1xBet.com now!

Pouille leads the Head 2 Head 1-0, the only meeting taking place in 2014 on hard courts, with the Frenchman winning 6-1 6-4. The surface in Bucharest is definitely a big advantage for Pouille, as red clay is Karlovic’s worst surface.

I highly fancy Pouille to win this match and the opening odds are extremely high, 1.40 would have been more fair than 1.67! It`s still not known if the match will be played Wednesday or Thursday (update: match will be played Thursday, due to rain on Wednesday), but I am pretty certain the odds will drop big time, so I will take the bet very early.

Pouille is playing his best tennis right now, he’s confident and showed a very good level in the first round. He meets an opponent who has not won a single match this season, who is not fond of clay and who doesn`t have match practice. Pouille should win this match, no matter from which perspective you look at it. Sure, anything can happen in sports, but Karlovic winning would simply be one of those ilogical outcomes which happen from time to time.

I will invest maximum stakes here at a superb price by 1xBet, which I`m not sure how long will stand. I can see the odds dropping well below 1.50 come match time. Expect Karlovic to be competitive on his serve, obviously, but eventually he will have a couple of games when he will miss some first serves and that’s when Pouille will capitalize. Nothing more left to be said, this is clear as day. My tip is Pouille to win. Prediction: Lucas Pouille – Ivo Karlovic 6-3 7-5.

Update: pick was initially posted on Tuesday. Odds are now around 1.35.

Pick: Pouille
Odds: 1.67 @ 1xBet
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 6.70
Event date: 21 April