tennis | Monday, July 10, 2023 8:48 AM

Monday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Iasi Challenger, Edoardo Lavagno vs Riccardo Bonadio

Jon Reid

Edoardo Lavagno vs Riccardo Bonadio Best Bet: Monday, July 10th

A day after upsetting quick-court expert Taylor Fritz, Mikael Ymer somehow managed to lose outright to Daniel Galan – a decent hitter, but by no means a grass-court aficionado. Just another in a long line of reminders to not bet matches that involve the younger of the two Ymer brothers. Lesson (hopefully) learned.

For Monday, we’re into the second week of Wimbledon, but there are also a slew of Challenger tournaments getting underway across Europe (and another in the United States).

Let’s take a look at the match between Edoardo Lavagno and Riccardo Bonadio in Iasi, Romania.

In this article:

Edoardo Lavagno vs Riccardo Bonadio Preview
Edoardo Lavagno vs Riccardo Bonadio Best Bet

Edoardo Lavagno vs Riccardo Bonadio Preview

Mon, July 10th, 11:30 (UK Time)

It’s interesting to see these two playing the Challenger event in Iasi, with San Benedetto in their native Italy hosting a tournament this week. Especially when both men were just in Milan a week ago. Perhaps the certainty of getting into the draw in Romania was worth it, considering both would’ve played in San Benedetto, but would’ve had to either get in as alternates or qualify.

As for the matchup itself, I’m keen on backing the lefty and younger of the two.

It’s taken some time for Lavagno to translate his ITF Tour success to the Challenger Tour, but he’s finally taken a few steps in 2023.

He’s got the quintessential clay specialist game, with a big forehand that is heavy on topspin. Due to the nature of how heavy the ball is and oftentimes how hard he tries to hit it, it can leak errors, and that’s been his biggest concern, but there’s no doubt that when it’s clicking, it’s a Challenger Tour level forehand.

He just made his first-ever Challenger Tour final a few weeks back in Perugia, with strong wins as an underdog against Alexandre Muller and Raul Brancaccio, before losing to the in-form and surging Fabian Maroszan.

He’s lost his last few matches, including one via retirement (I’d make the case a lot of that was due to him trying to back up his best-ever result at this level being tough physically), but on the whole has looked solid this season.

As for Bonadio, there are major concerns surrounding the 29-year-old’s game at the moment.

He’s 15-15 on the season on clay, but since reaching the Ostrava Challenger semifinal in April, he’s just 3-8. With his game predicated on a relatively consistent style and his ability to work his one-handed backhand around the court, when he’s committing unforced errors, he’s in big trouble, simply because he doesn’t possess the weapons to hit many winners to offset those mistakes.

I’m also concerned about the one-hander in crosscourt exchanges with the heavy topspin lefty forehand of his compatriot.

Edoardo Lavagno vs Riccardo Bonadio Best Bet

With the bigger game and the better form of the two almost by default, I have Lavagno as a larger favourite in this all-Italian showdown.

He did retire from a match a few weeks ago, but it’s Bonadio who retired just last week, calling it quits against Francesco Forti – by no means a top tier Challenger Tour talent – after being down 3-6, 0-3. Whether it was a serious injury or just his poor play, it’s an incredibly poor result, regardless.

I’ll gladly back the 24-year-old in this spot.