tennis | Tuesday, November 29, 2022 9:32 AM

Tuesday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Challenger Maia, Timofey Skatov vs Nicholas David Ionel

Jon Reid

Timofey Skatov vs Nicholas David Ionel Best Bet: Tuesday, November 29th

A close three-set win for Steven Diez, who started out rather slow, losing the opening set 1-6, before bouncing back with a 6-2 second. The third saw him down a break early, only to rally and win the final four games of the match to complete the comeback. The ability to pull the ball from side-to-side and into the outer thirds of the court really made the difference down the stretch, as Vacherot was a step too slow and committed far too many forced errors.

Onto Tuesday’s action, where we’ll look at the Challenger in Maia, Portugal and the match between Timofey Skatov and Nicolas David Ionel.

In this article:

Timofey Skatov vs Nicholas David Ionel Preview
Timofey Skatov vs Nicholas David Ionel Best Bet

Timofey Skatov vs Nicholas David Ionel Preview

November 29th, 15:30 UK Time

From one clay-court Challenger event to the other, with the conditions being nearly polar opposites.

Where one is played at sea level in a coastal town where wind and humidity come into play often, the other (in Maia) is played indoors and will be the near total opposite.

As for the players involved, a few different styles, as Ionel will likely benefit from the courts being a tad bit quicker (though it’s worth remembering they’re still clay courts), while Skatov’s more consistent game, along with his added ability this year to hit with some pace should be right in this one as well.

Despite the Romanian having the better record on clay this season, make no mistake, this is a relatively close match (and the market has made Skatov a deserving small favourite). A lot of Ionel’s success has come at the ITF level in 2022 on clay, but the wins were dominant enough to give him credit for being at the needed level to be a strong player at this level.

His strong serve and forehand combination can be a joy to watch, but he can also find himself often battling inconsistency in his game – something his Kazakh counterpart is going to need to capitalise on come Tuesday.

As for Skatov, his start to the year was the stuff of nightmares. He began losing 19 matches from his first 31 on the dirt, despite it being his best surface, and it appeared as though the mental fragility and attempt to play a game with a bit more pace and aggression simply wasn’t working.
Of late, however, he’s really found success (perhaps the later season typically seeing the quality of competition in draws drop has helped), winning one Challenger event and reaching a further four semifinals since the start of September. The comfort, consistency and added aggression has finally all come together, and it has seen Skatov build some pretty strong form heading into 2023.

Timofey Skatov vs Nicholas David Ionel Best Bet

With these two each having their own sets of strengths and both tending to have letdowns within matches, I’m looking to back the over in this one.

Ionel should find more cheap points, while Skatov will rely on his clay-court prowess, form and consistency to find plenty of his own points.

If you bet with a book that allows you to wager on over or under 2.5 sets, I do think that market is rather appealing, but for the sake of this article, we’ll back the more widely available games market, with 21 being a number I’m happy to play.