Mikhail Kukushkin vs Gilles Simon Tennis Prediction
Mikhail Kukushkin was drawn against the lucky loser and world #335 Federico Coria in the second round and he grabbed the opportunity by scoring a dominant straight set win, 6-2 6-3.
For the second time in two matches, the Kazakh #1 won his match in the same scoreline, having previously beaten Gregoire Barrere 6-2 6-3 in the first round. These two wins send him to the quarterfinal of ATP Lyon on his debut appearance.
This is the former world #46 Mikhail Kukushkin’s second quarterfinal appearance on tour this season and third at all levels. He lost the first one to Kevin Anderson in Pune but defeated Bjorn Fratangelo en route to winning the title at Irving Challenger.
The last and only time Mikhail Kukushkin progressed to the quarterfinal of a clay tour-level event was here at France in 2012, when he defeated Sam Querrey in R1 and Bernard Tomic in R2 before losing to Brian Baker in the quarterfinal of ATP Nice 2012.
The late withdrawal of Hyeon Chung has worked in Gilles Simon’s favor as he was drawn against lucky loser Joris De Loore, who put in a fighting performance but that wasn’t enough to trouble the experienced Frenchman, 7-6 6-2.
Though Gilles Simon has suffered early exits at a handful of tournaments and having an inconsistent season so far, he has previously made two quarterfinals on tour, lost to Richard Gasquet in Marrakech (Clay) and defeated Ricardo Ojeda Lara in Pune (Hard, won the title).
Gilles Simon’s recent five quarterfinals on clay have ended in defeats (from Bucharest 2015 to Marrakech 2018) and looking at his previous quarterfinal opponents (likes of Berdych, Alexander Zverev, Gasquet and Pablo Carreno Busta), he will consider this as an excellent opportunity to progress further.
One of those quarterfinal defeats came here at Lyon in 2017, when he was bageled by the former world #4 Tomas Berdych, 4-6 0-6. However, Gilles Simon made the semifinal of ATP Lyon twice in 2008 and 2009.
Gilles Simon leads the H2H 2-0, but this will be their first meeting on clay. There’s isn’t much between them at the moment considering neither of them is playing their best tennis in the recent months. Expect this to be an evenly matched contest.
Tennis Prediction: Gilles Simon
Odds: 1.73
