Pablo Carreno Busta vs Grigor Dimitrov Tennis Prediction
Grigor Dimitrov leads the H2H 4-2, but Pablo Carreno Busta leads the H2H on clay by 2-1. Interestingly, all their previous six meetings have finished in straight sets. Neither of them is playing their best tennis at the moment which makes it difficult to pick a winner here.
Grigor Dimitrov News
Grigor Dimitrov was lucky to escape with a win against Malek Jaziri in the round of 16. He fought back from a break down to win the first set, was outplayed in the second set, again fought back from a break down in the third set and saved a handful of match points before sealing the progression, 7-5 3-6 7-6.
It was one of the many unconvincing performances Grigor Dimitrov has produced since ATP Rotterdam, where he reached the final despite carrying an injury all week.
Nevertheless, it’s been a good start to the season for the Bulgarian #1 who has already made three quarterfinals in 2018 (excluding Barcelona) and won two of them, with the only loss coming against Kyle Edmund in the Australian Open.
This is the World #5 Grigor Dimitrov’s best result in Barcelona as he could not get beyond the second round in his previous three appearances. In fact, he could not register a single win in those three visits.
Pablo Carreno Busta News
Pablo Carreno Busta ended up on the winning side of a roller coaster round of 16 match on Thursday, thanks to Adrian Mannarino’s well-known struggle to close out the match, despite fighting his way back into the contest.
After a below-par start to the season, Pablo Carreno Busta has now reached at least the quarterfinal in two consecutive tournaments, having previously defeated Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinal of the Miami Open last month (his last tournament).
The Spaniard played five quarterfinal matches on clay in 2017 and managed to win four of them, with the only defeat coming against Rafael Nadal in the French Open (retired trailing 2-6 0-2).
Like Dimitrov, this is Carreno Busta’s best result in ATP Barcelona as reaching the round of 16 in 2017 was his previous best from seven appearances.
Tennis Prediction: Grigor Dimitrov
Odds: 1.80
