tennis | Tuesday, June 27, 2023 8:04 AM

Tuesday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Eastbourne, Maxime Cressy vs Daniel Galan

Jon Reid

Maxime Cressy vs Daniel Galan Best Bet: Tuesday, June 27th

Too sloppy from Yibing Wu, as a fairly steady Miomir Kecmanovic is able to defend his serve well enough to outlast the flashy Wu in a pair of tiebreaks. Another match that’s decided by a razor-thin margin going the other way.

For Tuesday, let’s take a look at the match between Maxime Cressy and Daniel Galan from Eastbourne.

In this article:

Maxime Cressy vs Daniel Galan Preview
Maxime Cressy vs Daniel Galan Best Bet

Maxime Cressy vs Daniel Galan Preview

June 27th, 14:00 (UK Time)

Every match involving Cressy is bound to be an interesting one. The big-serving American plays a fairly unique style that can really confound his opponents and frustrate those without the patience to wait out their chances on return.

Cressy’s serve is nearly unreturnable, and oftentimes he elects to hit two-second serves, resulting in a slew of double faults, but also ensuring that very few points in his service games see any kind of an extended rally.

It’s a high-risk, high-reward style that has been far more risk than reward in recent times, with Cressy not having picked up a win since the February indoor hard-court season.

As for Galan, the Colombian came up on clay, as is the case for most South Americans, but his abilities on other surfaces shouldn’t be underestimated. He doesn’t possess the typical underpowered game that many clay courters do, with a strong serve and a forehand that can dictate play and win him points.

This season, we’ve seen him hold serve at an 87% rate on grass, winning an incredible 80% of his first serve points and hitting an ace at a rate nearing 10%. Those are all impressive numbers, especially considering he’s taking on someone that struggles on return as much as Cressy does.

Maxime Cressy vs Daniel Galan Best Bet

Not sure why the odds are as lopsided here as they are. I’m going to assume it’s the perception that Galan is a clay courter, while Cressy’s serve and power have the market believing he’s leaps and bounds better on grass courts.

Put simply, that just isn’t the case. Galan can hold his serve consistently, has pop on his forehand and may not be a great grass courter, but has certainly acquitted himself well on the surface in the past and through qualifying. Then there’s the fact that Cressy has had major issues with double faults this season and has lost his last 11 matches. It’s not like he’s in peak form at the moment.

With a weak return game to begin with, it’s hard to see how Cressy is much more than at 55% favourite here. Throw in poor form and the propensity to double fault – which could potentially result in being broken himself – and I think it’s awfully tough to say Galan only wins this a third of the time.