tennis | Monday, May 15, 2023 7:55 AM (Revised at: Monday, May 15, 2023 7:56 AM)

Monday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Rome, Yannick Hanfmann vs Marco Cecchinato

Jon Reid

Yannick Hanfmann vs Marco Cecchinato Best Bet: Monday, May 15th

Lovely stuff from Alexander Shevchenko, as the additional time from the baseline against Sebastian Baez was ultimately the difference. While Baez is more established on tour, we were correctly able to identify a matchup advantage for an in-form Shevchenko and took full advantage.

Let’s move on to the second week in Rome and look at the match between Yannick Hanfmann and Marco Cecchinato for our Monday preview!

In this article:

Yannick Hanfmann vs Marco Cecchinato Preview
Yannick Hanfmann vs Marco Cecchinato Best Bet

Yannick Hanfmann vs Marco Cecchinato Preview

May 15th, 10:00 (UK Time)

Along with his compatriot Fabio Fognini, who pulled off a few wins as an underdog on home soil in Rome, Cecchinato has put together a much-needed week of results, winning a pair of matches (one as the underdog) and not dropping a set along the way.

The slower conditions on offer here have assisted in Cecchinato’s success, as it becomes much tougher to rush his one-handed backhand and he has more time to set up his groundstrokes that are hit with precise angles to pull his opposition off-court and open up space for him to hit through.

Hanfmann is a clay courter in his own right but in a fairly different capacity.

The German has a powerful serve and forehand, and he hits with heavy topspin that is tough to attack and can really push opponents back behind the baseline.

It’s why we’ve seen the 31-year-old have success in the past in elevated conditions in places like Kitzbuhel or Gstaad. It also explains much of his success this year on the clay in Houston (where the clay used rewards a more power-oriented game) and Madrid (also played at 650 metres of altitude).

He’s carried that success over to Rome, but three of the four opponents he’s sent home (Hanfmann came through the qualifying draw) aren’t exactly players known for their clay-court abilities, and the other (Nicolas Jarry) has been in pretty poor form since winning the title in his native Chile a few months ago.

Yannick Hanfmann vs Marco Cecchinato Best Bet

I can understand why the market favours Hanfmann here.

He’s been the more solid player for much longer so far this clay-court season.

I do think that the market is failing to contextualise a lot of the success he’s had, however. As I mentioned in the last section, the wins have almost all come in quicker conditions, where the serve and forehand play up for Hanfmann.

Given the fact that these two are both clay courters, but employ a different style and it’s Cecchinato’s that is likely to benefit more in Rome, I’ll back the man on home soil at underdog odds to come through.