Ilya Ivashka vs Gilles Simon Tennis Prediction
This is the first-ever meeting between these two players. Ivashka has won nearly twice as many matches as Simon so far in 2018 (24/13 vs. 13/10) and has a lot of confidence and momentum on his side to give a tough match for the experienced Frenchman.
Ilya Ivashka News
Ilya Ivashka defeated two experienced opponents, Kenny de Schepper, and Jurgen Melzer, in the qualifying stages to advance into the main draw of ATP Barcelona at the first time of asking.
The 24-year-old Belarussian, who did not play a main draw match on tour until 2018, will now be making his sixth main draw appearance of the season. Winning five matches and progressing to the semifinal at Marseille (defeated Kenny de Schepper in the qualifying stages) is the notable result of them all.
Entering as a qualifier at Marrakech (clay) and Monte Carlo (clay) in the past two weeks, Ivashka qualified for the main draw but lost the first round to Pablo Andujar and Fabio Fognini, respectively. He will be hoping to avoid a similar result when he takes on Gilles Simon this Tuesday.
Gilles Simon News
After failing to win consecutive matches since winning the title at Pune in the first week of January, Gilles Simon broke the trend and progressed to the quarterfinal of ATP Marrakech two weeks back, despite producing unconvincing performances.
Gilles Simon has played five matches on clay so far in 2018, and his serve was broken 24 times in these five matches, including the two matches he played at Monte Carlo Masters last week.
Like Ivashka, Simon will be making his Barcelona debut this week. This time last year, the Frenchman entered ATP Budapest where he suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of Bjorn Fratangelo.
Tennis Prediction: Gilles Simon
Odds: 1.70
