Montpellier Open: Lestienne vs Basilashvili Tennis Prediction & Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 Montpellier Open as Constant Lestienne takes on Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round on Monday, February 6, 2023.

French late bloomer Constant Lestienne will look to post his first win at the Montpellier Open on his main draw debut. But he will battle the flamboyant and volatile Nikoloz Basilashvili. Who will prevail?

Constant Lestienne had fallen in the qualifying stage at the Montpellier Open three times. And with the wild cards not forthcoming, he had to build his ranking on the Challenger Tour. Thankfully for him, things have worked out nicely and Lestienne has even transitioned seamlessly on indoor hard courts on the main tour. He has reached two ATP semifinals on the eve of this tournament and has broken the world’s top 50, earning him an automatic main draw berth at his home tournament.

While Constant Lestienne has been climbing the rankings, the same cannot be said of Nikoloz Basilashvili. Currently ranked 87th in the world, Basilshvili is yet to win in 2023. In fact last season he tallied 17 wins all year. Not even a return to the Challenger circuit could extract confidence-boosting wins. He now finds himself in danger of exiting the world’s top 100. Can he produce the odd deep run at the Montpellier Open?

Constant Lestienne leads Nikoloz Basilashvili 1-0 in their head-to-head, winning that match on the Challenger circuit seven years ago. Despite winning only 17 matches last season, Basilashvili actually made a Tour-level final in Doha. As strange as that sounds, Basilashvili has made a habit of making quite the splash at these low-tier ATP tournaments almost every season where he is not under the limelight. But still, he is still a long way off from his best tennis right now and he hasn’t looked remotely close to finding it.