Betdistrict.com
One of the more interesting matches of the day in Buenos Aires will see Pablo Andujar take on local favorite Federico Delbonis.
Andujar played his first clay court match of the year a couple of days ago, and it was a rock solid performance against an in form Juan Ignacio Londero, who had just reached the semifinals last week in Cordoba. Andujar (who showed a pretty good level on hard courts this year as well) won 6-2 6-4 and is looking ready to mount a serious challenge on clay for what’s left of this South American Golden Swing.
Federico Delbonis will get good support from his home crowd today, but that wasn’t the case on Tuesday during his clash with Juan Martin Del Potro. DelBonis had to be the villain in what was probably Del Potro’s last match, but he held his nerves well for a 6-1 6-3 win. It was the first win of the year for Delbonis, who entered Buenos Aires in dreadful form.
Andujar leads the H2H 7-2 (6-2 on clay) and won the previous meeting, last year on hard indoors. Delbonis did win tho tight matches in the previous two meetings on clay, but it’s clear he doesn’t enjoy playing against Pablo too much.
Delbonis probably played his best match in many months against Del Potro in the first round, but that doesn’t say much considering his horrible form coming into this tournament. Del Potro was awful, and Delbonis didn’t really have to do that much. He was decent, but not great, and showed vulnerabilities in the second set when DelPo started to look more like a professional player.
Will that win give him confidence and help him raise his level? It’s possible, but he would need to raise it by quite a lot if he is to get past Andujar. The Spaniard looked very sharp against a very dangerous opponent in Londero, and his stable game from the baseline will represent a big challenge for Delbonis, who has been making a saraband of errors in his matches over the past few months.
Odds on Andujar are dropping and it’s easy to see why, right now he’s the better player, he has a matchup advantage and he has definitely looked better than Delbonis lately, including this week. I’m backing Pablo here. Prediction: Pablo Andujar – Federico DelBonis 7-5 6-2.
Pick: Andujar
Odds: 1.87 @ Unibet
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 7.83
Event date: 10 February
