tennis | Thursday, April 13, 2023 8:26 PM (Revised at: Thursday, April 13, 2023 10:19 PM)

Friday Tennis Bonus Best Bet: ATP Challenger Split, Zsombor Piros vs Radu Albot

Jon Reid

Zsombor Piros vs Radu Albot Best Bet: Friday, April 14th

Well, the cold streak continues. Should’ve known better than to go with a higher stakes bet backing Marco Trungelliti. Even against a no name who struggles at the ITF level, the mental game of the Argentine found a way to be absolutely steam rolled.

Onto Friday, where we’ll once again look at a match featuring Zsombor Piros, as he takes on Radu Albot in Split.

In this article:

Zsombor Piros vs Radu Albot Preview
Zsombor Piros vs Radu Albot Best Bet

Zsombor Piros vs Radu Albot Preview

April 13th, 14:30 (UK Time)

April 14th, 11:00 (UK Time)

Odd to see the veteran Albot drop down to the Challenger Tour to play on clay, but it appears as though he believes he needs to get some more time in on the surface before the coming tour-level stretch.

Despite his ranking of 112, the Moldovan had to play his way through the qualifying draw, which would indicate a late sign up to play this week in Croatia.

It’s worked to this point, as Albot has won four matches on the trot (though against lower-level competition and players that aren’t at home on the dirt, or completely out of form). His last three years of spring tennis saw him lose more matches than he won, as the 33-year-old struggles on the slower, high-bouncing courts.

Without the requisite firepower to hit through the courts, Albot often finds himself in trouble when playing someone competent on clay courts and that can hang around with his consistent style from the baseline.

Enter Piros, who – as we talked about the other day – has actually been playing some strong tennis in the last few weeks, losing primarily to guys that ended up going on to win the event.

This is his fifth consecutive quarterfinal appearance, and should be one of his better chances to finally make a semifinal on clay.

He also has the better hybrid clay elo rating of the two, despite playing more often on the lower circuit of tennis, which tells you just how poor Albot has been in the last year.

Zsombor Piros vs Radu Albot Best Bet

It’s nice to see a veteran like Albot willing to drop back down to the Challenger Tour in an effort to build up some form, but I’m not sure his four wins to this point would be enough for me to have priced at the current prices the market has on offer.

Considering the gulf in comfort on clay between the two and Piros’ rising stock, as well as his ability to play better front-foot tennis, I’d have him as a fairly solid favourite heading into this quarterfinal tilt.

Selection: Piros to win
Best Odds: 1.85 (Pinnacle)
Stakes: 3/10

Odds as at am on April 14th, 2023. Odds may now differ.

Zsombor Piros vs Radu Albot Tips