TennisSection previews the 2021 Belgrade Open as Nikolosz Basilashvili (3) meets Andrej Martin in the Round of 16 on Wednesday May 26th, 2021.
Third seeded Georgian Nikolosz Basilashvili enters the 2021 Belgrade Open in search of his third title of the year. Can he get the win here over Andrej Martin of Slovakia and advance to the Quarter-Finals? This looks like a mismatch on paper due to the huge gulf between their rankings, but the Georgian has been terribly inconsistent of late. Can Martin cause the massive upset?
Nikolosz Basilashvili is currently ranked #31 in the ATP world rankings and is the third seed here at the 2021 Belgrade Open. The Georgian had been on a terrible streak over the past few seasons, losing a remarkable 10 First Round matches recently. Astonishingly, he has already won two titles so far this year, in Doha and Munich. It was these types of performances that propelled him inside the top 20 in the world just a couple years ago, and while he will be happy with those two titles he will be desperate for some consistency in his performances. His ultra-aggressive baseline game translates well to this surface, and he should be considered one of the main contenders for the title here in Belgrade. He enters this match against Andrej Martin as the heavy favorite, and will be backing himself to advance to the Quarter-Finals.
Andrej Martin is ranked #119 in the world, and came through the Qualifying Rounds to enter the main draw at the 2021 Belgrade Open. The Slovakian followed that up with winning a tough three setter over Christopher O’Connell in the First Round here, setting up a tough Round of 16 clash with the third seeded Nikolosz Basilashvili. He began this season with three hard court losses in succession, prompting him to exclusively play clay court events since, a surface that he has had success on throughout his career. 10 of his 11 Challenger Tour titles have been on clay. Despite his clay court success, that was still at the lower level, and he will enter this match as the heavy underdog against the world number #31 Basilashvili.
This will be the first time that the two players have faced each other on the ATP Tour, and their head to head record stands at 0-0. This should be a relatively straightforward win for Nikolosz Basilashvili due to his superior track record, ranking and experience. Andrej Martin is simply not quite on that level and it is unlikely that he will have the firepower to trouble the Georgian much here. He has been very inconsistent and that is always a worry, but even if he is not quite at his best he should still be too much for the Slovakian to handle. I expect an easy victory for Basilashvili here, who will advance to his third Quarter-Final of the year here at the 2021 Belgrade Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Nikolosz Basilashvili to win in straight sets.
Want more Free Tennis Picks from our Experts? Check out our latest Tennis Predictions now!
