Miami Masters 2023: Pella vs Varillas Prediction, Odds & Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 Miami Masters first-round match featuring Guido Pella vs Juan Pablo Varillas on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

Guido Pella vs Juan Pablo Varillas Match Preview

Guido Pella’s comeback season hasn’t yielded plenty of wins yet, but he could be due for one on Wednesday at the Miami Masters against fellow South American Juan Pablo Varillas. Who will prevail?

Since recovering from the knee injury that kept him out of action for a year, Guido Pella has not gotten enough credit for the kind of performances he’s putting in, week in, week out. And considering that his ranking was outside the top 1000 at the start of the year, Pella has done a commendable job to stay competitive even with limited tournament participation. He has two wins this year and enters the Miami Masters with a protected ranking.

Juan Pablo Varillas, for his part, has won nine matches in 2023 across all competitions, with the bulk of those coming on clay. He reached the Buenos Aires semifinal on the red clay last month, losing to Cameron Norrie. That is his best result this season. The Peruvian has yet to win a main draw match on hard courts at Tour level, having come close at this year’s Australian Open where he lost in the first round to Alexander Zverev in five sets.

Guido Pella vs Juan Pablo Varillas Prediction and Pick

Guido Pella leads Juan Pablo Varillas 2-0 in their head-to-head, winning their two meetings on the Challenger circuit in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Varillas is playing his first match on hard courts since Melbourne and his first match on any surface in nearly a month. And I’m not entirely sure he will adapt to the quick, slick courts at the Miami Masters. He hasn’t played well outside the red clay and Pella’s experience could come in handy. And if you factor in the Argentine’s recent good spell of form in Indian Wells, we are backing the veteran to secure an upset.