Mikhail Kukushkin vs Dalibor Svrcina Prediction, Picks, Odds, H2H, 11/9/24

Our second preview comes from the other side of the world at the ATP Challenger in Guangzhou, China. It’s Mikhail Kukushkin vs Dalibor Svrcina from the Guangzhou Nansha International Challenger.

Svrcina’s win probability is only 44%, while Kukushkin is favoured to win at 1.66 odds. The handicap is 2.5 games and the total games line is 22.

For more daily tennis tips, visit the bettingexpert community, but if you want more expert tips from Jon Reid, visit our Expert Insights section.

Our Kukushkin vs Svrcina prediction is for Kukushkin to win.

Mikhail Kukushkin vs Dalibor Svrcina Prediction: Wily Veteran Too Strong on Hard Courts for Young Svrcina

• Prediction: Kukushkin to win & Kukushkin -2.5 Games
• Best Odds: 1.66 & 1.94
• Bookmaker: Pinnacle
• Stakes: 3/10 & 2/10

Odds updated at 3:30 am UK Time on September 11th, 2024. 

Though his results may have slowed a bit as the season has worn on, the veteran from Kazakhstan has put a poor 2023 behind him and nearly surged back into the top-100 in the world rankings.

He was solid in dispatching Evgeny Donskoy in the opening round and now plays a fairly underpowered Svrcina who struggled mightily in his lone matchup with the crafty Kukushkin when they met on a hard court.

The ultra-flat style of Kukushkin tends to play well on hard courts and on quicker surfaces, which is what we generally find in this region and Svrcina’s consistency and ball retrieval skills are more geared towards higher bouncing and clay courts.

He did well to reach the quarters in both Zhangjiagang and Shanghai, but I’d posit that he wasn’t tasked with anyone nearly as proficient as Kukushkin in any of his opening two rounds at those tournaments.

I’ll back the veteran here to send him packing once again.

Mikhail Kukushkin Recent Form

That first round win was big for the 36-year-old, who managed to snap a three match losing skid by beating Donskoy.

Other than those three losses, we haven’t seen too many spells of poor play from Kukushkin. He’s won two titles at this level this season, made an additional three semifinals and then a further five quarters.

It’s been clear that even in his mid-30s that Kukushkin has the quality to be one of the better players on this Tour – especially if we’re talking about a quicker surface.

He’s already proven he has the chops to apply consistent pressure to the weaker Svrcina serve, so he should be able to find the win once more.

Dalibor Svrcina Recent Form

It’s been a decent few weeks for Svrcina, who can’t be faulted for beating players he should be beating, but other than Seongchan Hong, there isn’t really a win that stands out as impressive.

I’d even venture to say that with his solid style from the baseline, Hong was actually a great matchup for him with how many errors the Korean so often coughs up.

I’m a little concerned about Svrcina’s serve in these conditions, because even though the courts may help it a bit, it’s still pretty vulnerable and others tend to gain far more than he does.

Mikhail Kukushkin vs Dalibor Svrcina H2H – Stat of the Match

These two played earlier this year in Manama. It was the lone encounter, coming on a hard court at the Challenger level as well. Kukushkin dominated that match, winning 6-2, 6-2.

Svrcina may not be caught off guard by the kind of extreme flat hitting of Kukushkin this time around, but I also don’t think knowing his opponent’s game is going to close an eight-game gap either.

Safer Gambling

At bettingexpert, we always take a safe approach to gambling. We’ll never bet more than we can afford or chase losses. For more advice, head to our Safer Gambling hub.