Maden vs De Greef (Approx 10:00pm AEST)
I feel a little too much may have been read into the previous meeting between these two in May last year. Personally, I was of the belief the Maden would be a relatively warm favourite in this match, so I am a touch wary of the odds given such little competitive tennis has been played recently.
From the looks of things, De Greef caught Maden in a downswing of a busy portion of his 2019. The form around that Heilbronn loss is solid, and includes qualifying in Budapest and Munich, and after his losses in Aix En Province and Heilbronn he was able to not only qualify for the main draw of Roland Garros, he then made his way to the second round, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. On the surface, the clay form of Maden isn’t too bad.
Whilst I feel Arthur De Greef has a slightly highly ceiling in terms of his ability to win on clay, the lack of consistency is a concern for mine at the current price. I think a little too much has been read into his round 1 demolition of Couacaud as well, however as I mentioned in the preview for Vrbensky and Diez I am wary of the benefits of a run in the first round.
I give the edge at the price today to Maden. I would look to split the play 0.5 units on Maden and 0.5 units on the total going over 22.5. That being said, I know it can be difficult at times to source consistent odds for Challengers outside of match lines, so I will play and record at the more accessible price only.