John Millman vs Radu Albot Tennis Prediction
Their only previous meeting came on the clay courts of Heilbronn 2 challenger in 2015 when Albot fought back from a set down to win in three sets. Albot is easily the better player on clay, but the fact that can be utterly inconsistent and struggles to close out sets and matches gives Millman an equal chance in this encounter.
John Millman News
John Millman will kick-start his clay season when he takes on Radu Albot in the first round of ATP Budapest on Monday. He played only two matches on clay last season (on tour) and lost both of them, against Roberto Bautista Agut in the French Open and Zdenek Kolar in Mestre Challenger.
After failing to win back-to-back matches in his opening four tournaments of the season, the Australian stepped down a level and won the title at Kyoto Challenger. But he could not carry on the momentum as he was forced to retire in the following week at Yokohama Challenger (back problem).
However, returning to action at the Miami Open last month, John Millman scored three solid wins (including the qualifiers) before losing to Kei Nishikori (R2) in three sets, 6-7 6-4 3-6. He is yet to play a match since then.
John Millman, who will be making his debut at Budapest, last entered a clay tournament at this level (ATP 250 series) in 2015 at Istanbul, where he failed to qualify for the main draw.
Radu Albot News
Radu Albot suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands Benjamin Bonzi in the first round of Tunis Challenger last week, 1-6 1-6. It was also his 12th defeat of the season from 18 outings (6/12).
The Moldovan has already entered two clay events so far in 2018 and managed to secure one win, against Andreas Seppi in Marrakech.
Like John Millman, Radu Albot will be making his Budapest debut this week, but unlike Millman, Radu Albot has played a handful of matches on clay in the recent seasons. He played 62 matches on clay in the past two seasons and won 32 of them (32/32) while Millman played just three matches on this surface (0/3, on tour) over the same period.
Tennis Prediction: Radu Albot
Odds: 1.90
