Jaume Munar vs Thanasi Kokkinakis
Time: 7:00 PM IST
Head-to-head: 1-0
The Madrid Masters first-round match between Jaume Munar Clar and Thanasi Kokkinakis was quite intense, and it left both players dissatisfied with each other’s behavior. Interestingly, fate has brought them together again in the first round of another Masters event. They had a lengthy conversation at the net after their previous match, which didn’t end on a good note.
Jaume Munar was hoping to reach his first-ever Masters quarterfinal in Madrid last week, but unfortunately, he couldn’t maintain his momentum and lost to Daniel Altmaier in the round of 16 with a score of 3-6, 0-6. Munar has been trying to gain some momentum in recent weeks, and he will be hoping to continue that trend as he makes his main draw debut at the Rome Masters. He has attempted to qualify for the tournament twice before, in 2019 and 2021, but was unsuccessful both times.
Thanasi Kokkinakis, on the other hand, had no prior clay court match experience before facing Jaume Munar in Madrid. However, he has played in five matches since then, winning four of them. He made it to the quarterfinals of the Cagliari Challenger last week, and he continued his good form by defeating Matteo Gigante and Jan Choinski in straight sets during the Rome Masters qualifiers.
Before his loss to Jaume Munar in Madrid, the talented Australian had not suffered a first-round defeat at any level this year. Despite the pandemic-induced chaos, Kokkinakis has been able to participate in several competitive tennis matches, winning 21 out of 31 games so far this year. This figure is only two matches short of his final tally from 2022 (23/19), and he has remained injury-free.
We expect Jaume Munar’s experience on clay to be the deciding factor in this match up.
Prediction: Back Jaume Munar to win