The first round action at the 2020 St. Petersburg Open will have the top seeded Daniil Medvedev taking on Frenchman Richard Gasquet on Monday or Tuesday, October 12 or 13. The exact timing of the match is yet to be determined. Get the live streaming options of this Daniil Medvedev v Richard Gasquet match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Daniil Medvedev v Richard Gasquet Head to Head
The world number five Medvedev has met the 50th-ranked Gasquet on one previous occasion before this. It came at the 2018 Montpellier Open and Gasquet had won that opening round match in straight sets. A lot has changed since then though as Medvedev helped himself to a breakthrough year last year and has currently risen to number five in the world.
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Medvedev on a Three-Match Losing Streak
Clay isn’t Medvedev’s most preferred surface, not yet anyway. He might finish his career in a decade or so having gotten way better on it but for now, his focus has turned back to indoor hard courts as he enters the St. Petersburg Open as the defending champion.
That follows a three-match losing streak in which he was ousted at the US Open semifinal stage and then proceeded to lose his openers at both, the Rome Masters and the French Open. And while those last two defeats would hurt, it would be the semifinal loss that would have made the most dent.
Having made it to the final last year at Flushing Meadows and won four ATP titles, Medvedev was one of those non-Big Three players gunning for a Grand Slam and till that run to the semifinals he had looked like he was a definite favourite. And then, Dominic Thiem had sent him sprawling in straight sets.
Medvedev’s new target would be the Australian Open, which is a small matter of three months away but with the season so impacted the pandemic, and barely any break expected between the end of this season and the start of the next, Medvedev will look at these hard court events to get him to sharpen his claws in the lead-up to that next major.
He starts off against an opponent who hasn’t had too much of success since his return from the pandemic break.
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Gasquet in the Twilight of His Career
34-year-old Gasquet hasn’t had the best of years on tour but then again he hasn’t played in a lot of tournaments. The Frenchman opted to give the Australian Open a miss and then reached the quarterfinal in both, Montpellier and Dubai. An opening round loss at Marseille was a part of the rest of his pre-pandemic season.
During the pandemic, Gasquet seemed to have wholehearted submerged himself into the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, a format he looked to have enjoyed. Unfortunately for him, since his return to the tour, those results at UTS haven’t quite converted into too much to look at fondly.
At the Cincinnati Masters, Gasquet was soundly beaten in the second round by Roberto Bautista-Agut and then went down at the same stage to Alex De Minaur at the US Open as well. And much like Medvedev, the French clay didn’t add too much of joy to his life as he crashed out in the opener.
So while he would be happy to return back to hard court tennis, having reached 10 finals at indoor hard court tournaments, his luck with the draw could mean an early exit for the veteran.
Medvedev v Gasquet Prediction and Tip
There’s not much to ponder on this. Unless Medvedev suffers from some kind of a fitness issue, he should be at his most comfortable in this and come away in straight sets to make it to the second round.
Tip: Medvedev to win in straight sets: 1/2 (bet365)
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The St. Petersburg Open 2020 will be played from October 12 to 18. You can watch & bet on the St. Petersburg Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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