Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Filip Krajinovic ATP Game Picks - 5/31/2019

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Filip Krajinovic

4am EST, 31st May 2019

Roland Garros (Paris, France)

Intro

Filip Krajinovic is walking on thin ice in this tournament. In both of his matches he needed 5th set to get the W. Considering he was a big favorite in both, those matches shouldn't be as close as they were. Especially the second round match vs Roberto Carballes Baena. He was serving for the match in the third set with a chance to close it out in straight sets. Even had a match point at 6-5 (40-30), but failed to convert. Spaniard grabbed the opportunity and pushed the match into a decider. Props to Krajinovic for maintaining focus. Many players would lose their cool after such a big lead slipping out of their hands. There was no need to make things complicated in this match, but it did help us realize how strong he is in the mental aspect of the game.

Tsitsipas spent quite some time on the court as well. For -600 favorite, 4 sets and almost 3 hours were more than expected. But in this case, it was not his fault. Hugo Dellien has proven to be a very respectable opponent, despite being ranked 80 spots lower than the Greek. We were able to watch some high-level clay court tennis from both players. In the end, it seemed like Stefanos' ability to come forward and finish the point when he's ahead in the rally made the difference.

Matchup

Not many players have the confidence to do that on clay. The surface is too slow and allows the defender to be more precise with that passing shot. But Tsitsipas is obviously not thinking about that too much. He'll come forward, knowing that percentages are on his side. It makes him a very tough matchup for players that are defending deep behind the baseline, trying to get the ball back in play through the middle without much pace on it, resetting the point and force the opponent to build it from beginning one more time. Krajinovic has a lot of that in his game. And he's very good at it too. It will be interesting to see his adjustment when Stefanos takes that deep defending style away and force him to put it past him. Will he be able to hit the target at a high enough rate? Another thing that Krajinovic might not like so much is the high bounce. Tsitsipas has a lot of shape on his shots. On clay, those balls can get even to shoulder height, making it very difficult to deal with.

Betting odds & prediction

Clearly, Tsitsipas is a big favorite in this match. He is no.6 in the world. A rising star of the tour who already proved he can go toe to toe with the best 3 players in the world. With this match being played in some other playing conditions, I would be pointing out that the market is overvaluing him and not realizing that Krajinovic is no pushover. But on these clay courts, I simply think that he has too big of an edge over Serbian player and that there are very slim chances for an upset.

Tony's Pick: Stefanos Tsitsipas -6 (-116)

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