Pablo Carreno Busta vs Benoit Paire Tennis Prediction

Benoit Paire leads the H2H 4-3 (3-2 on clay) including winning their recent meeting in the first round of Madrid Masters in 2017. Pablo Carreno Busta is by far the consistent player of these two but his current form (on clay) coupled with Benoit Paire’s ability to produce top performances on a good day makes this an even contest.

Pablo Carreno Busta News

The fifth seed Pablo Carreno Busta received a first-round bye and will get his eighth Barcelona campaign underway on Wednesday. In his previous seven appearances, only once he managed to progress beyond the second round, in 2017 (R16).
The Spaniard is yet to play a match since losing to Alexander Zverev in the semifinal of the Miami Open last month. It was his best week of the season so far.
Pablo Carreno Busta entered three clay tournaments in February, but the results were rather disappointing as he could register just one win in those three tournaments, against Marco Cecchinato in Rio de Janeiro.
Though Carreno Busta has struggled on clay so far in 2018, the World #11 has been extremely prolific on these conditions over the years. He has won at least 20 matches on clay every season since 2009, including 70 wins on this surface in 2013 and 54 in 2011.

Benoit Paire News

Benoit Paire secured a solid three-set win over Nicolas Jarry in the first round on Monday, who is having a fine season on clay in 2018, 7-6 6-7 6-4.
It was a much-needed win for the Frenchman considering was on a three-match losing run before entering Barcelona, against Filip Krajinovic in Miami, Gilles Simon in Marrakech and Feliciano Lopez in Monte Carlo.
In addition to winning the second round matches here in the last three seasons, Benoit Paire also made it to the semifinal of Barcelona in 2016.

Tennis Prediction: Benoit Paire
Odds: 2.73