tennis | Thursday, May 19, 2022 6:45 AM (Revised at: Thursday, May 19, 2022 10:05 AM)

Thursday's Tennis Best Bet: ATP Lyon, May 19th

Jon Reid

ATP Lyon Best Bet: Molcan vs Coria

Thursday, May 19th, 10:00 (UK Time)

Soul-crushing loss on Mayar Sherif, who held a match point at 6-4, *5-4 40-30 up. Second time in seven selections that a play has lost from a dominant position of a set and break up. Those will come back the other way eventually.

Onto Thursday’s action, where motivation could factor in more than a typical second-round match, with Roland Garros just a few days away. Keep in mind, unlike most majors, the French Open begins on Sunday, with the opening round spanning three days.

With that in mind, backing a player who isn’t known to tank, and who, realistically, doesn’t have any real aspirations at a major run at Roland Garros should be top of mind.

Among Thursday’s matches, that player is Alex Molcan, who takes on Federico Coria in Lyon. For starters, Molcan isn’t one to ever take points off, let alone matches. He’s chasing his first career title and second final of the clay season. Finally, a title in Lyon would put him on the precipice of a seed at Wimbledon (would almost guarantee him one should they uphold their ban on Russians and Belarussians). Thus, the motivation in a week before a slam isn’t too much of a concern here.

Next, he’s simply the higher-quality clay court player. Whether it be results, quality of competition, or statistically, Molcan has the edge. He also does much more on the court. While both men are terrific when it comes to defending and remaining consistent from the baseline, Molcan is capable of flattening out his forehand and finding winners when chances present themselves. Coria is more dependent on waiting for errors from his opponents.

Finally, the left-handed forehand of Molcan should be the biggest edge he has on the court. Coria defends very well, but his backhand is liable to land short. That’s bad news when crosscourt rallies on his backhand wing are played into a lefty’s forehand. Those short balls should present Molcan with plenty of opportunities to find cheap points.