tennis | Friday, May 26, 2023 7:40 AM

Friday Tennis Best Bet: ATP French Open, Aslan Karatsev vs Nicolas Moreno de Alboran

Jon Reid

Aslan Karatsev vs Nicolas Moreno de Alboran Best Bet: Friday, May 26th

Too strong from Andrea Vavassori who was able to take advantage of a few poor service games from Alejandro Tabilo to book his spot into the main draw.

Friday brings us the conclusion of French Open qualifying, and it’s there we find the matchup featuring Aslan Karatsev and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran.

In this article:

Aslan Karatsev vs Nicolas Moreno de Alboran Preview
Aslan Karatsev vs Nicolas Moreno de Alboran Best Bet

Aslan Karatsev vs Nicolas Moreno de Alboran Preview

May 26th, 11:30 (UK Time)

It’s another win-and-you’re-in matchup for a position in the main draw on Friday morning in Paris.

The high-octane game of Karatsev takes on the steadier, but much less powerful game of Moreno de Alboran.
It can be dangerous backing Karatsev as a favourite in these types of positions, but in this matchup, we’ve simply got one man with an ATP Tour calibre game, taking on one who is best suited to success at the Challenger Tour level.

With form being ever-important for someone as volatile as Karatsev, it’s promising to see him winning matches consistently again, with a semifinal run in Madrid in the event he played prior to this one.

His first match was against a tricky Frenchman in Pierre Hugues Herbert, who can hit a big serve and plays an unorthodox style, mixing in plenty of serve-and-volleying, which took the Russian out of rhythm. His second match was much more reassuring, as he beat Nick Hardt in straight sets and by a 5-game margin.

Hardt may not be quite as strong as the American Karatsev will play on Friday, but the style of playing solidly from the baseline and making his opposition play a lot of balls in rallies is something that Moreno de Alboran can do as well.

It’s a decent matchup for Karatsev, who has the weapons to hit through the surface and his opponents, but one that should also afford him the time to set up his big groundstrokes and not be rushed too often by Moreno de Alboran.

Aslan Karatsev vs Nicolas Moreno de Alboran Best Bet

While assessing Karatsev’s form should always be done with great caution, the fact is, he has an incredibly powerful game that can compete at the highest levels of the sport when it’s on.

We saw that in Madrid, where he reached the semifinal as a qualifier and won a slew of matches while being valued as the underdog and covering the handicap when the favourite.

That last point also tells me the market still hasn’t gotten up to speed on his resurgence, and while I believe that Moreno de Alboran is a solid player at the Challenger Tour and grand slam qualifying level, I’m not sure he should be a sub-4 game underdog on the handicap.