Tennis Picks

Matteo Berrettini vs Gilles Simon Tennis Prediction

Matteo Berrettini got a favorable first-round draw as he faced the world #15 Jack Sock, who is having a terrible season so far in 2018 with six wins from 22 outings (6/16). However, it wasn’t an easy match as the Italian had to fight back from two sets down before securing his progression into the second round, 6-7 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-2.
Making his grass debut at ATP Halle a few weeks back, Matteo Berrettini defeated Dustin Brown in QR1 but lost the following two matches against Mikhail Youzhny in QR2 and Andreas Seppi in R1 (as a lucky loser). He then won two qualifying matches against Andrea Basso and Carlos Gomez Herrera at ATP Eastbourne before losing his first round match to David Ferrer.
On Thursday, the 22-year-old Italian will play his career’s second second-round match at this level with the only previous such appearance ending in a four-set win against Ernests Gulbis in the French Open 2018.
Gilles Simon snapped his three-match losing run by handing Nikoloz Basilashvili a straight-set defeat in the first round of Wimbledon earlier this week, 6-1 7-5 6-1.
Though Gilles Simon has been to the quarterfinal of Wimbledon once in 2015, he lost his recent two second-round matches here, against Grigor Dimitrov in 2016 and Dominic Thiem in 2017.
The experienced Frenchman did not have a good preparation for Wimbledon as he could win only one match in three grass tournaments, with that only win coming against Matteo Viola, who was playing his first main draw match on tour in nearly four years.
Gilles Simon has won 39 matches more than Matteo Berrettini on grass, which makes him the favorite in the pair’s first-ever meeting. However, the Frenchman needs to be at his best as the Italian has got the game to offer a stern challenge.

Tennis Prediction: Gilles Simon
Odds: 1.50