Expect plenty of entertaining action on day four at the ATP Marrakech Open with six intriguing matches on the slate in Morocco. As ever, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the schedule, including Richard Gasquet vs Pavel Kotov. But who will book their place in the quarterfinals?
ATP Marrakech Day 4 Predictions
David Goffin vs Pablo Andujar
Head-to-head: Goffin 2-1 Andujar
David Goffin, at his best, is a superbly gifted player. But the Belgian has struggled of late, with injuries not helping his cause. There have been some good results, not least his run to the final in Cincinnati, but fewer than might have been hoped after a banner 2017. The start of the season has been particularly disappointing, with his first 15 matches yielding just six wins. But he looked sharp in his 16th match of 2022, beating Damir Dzumhur 6-2 7-6.
Pablo Andujar, meanwhile, got the better of second seed Dan Evans, 6-4 6-2. If clay is not the Briton’s favourite surface, he can certainly play on it and Andujar’s win, particularly the manner of it, is a testament to his enduring quality. It has not been a particularly successful year so far, but he did reach the third round at Melbourne Park and the quarterfinals in Rio. Back on his preferred red clay, expect an uptick in his results. Starting with – at least – a quarterfinal showing in Marrakech.
Prediction: Andujar in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Federico Coria vs Mirza Basic
Head-to-head: Coria 1-0 Basic
Federico Coria must be accounted the heavy favourite heading into this match. The Argentine has not quite matched his brother’s considerable achievements, but he has carved out a fine career for himself and may well be targeting a top 50 ranking by the end of this clay-court season. Mirza Basic, in contrast, is on the comeback trail. The Bosnian currently finds himself ranked outside of the top 200 and, prior to this week, lost his only tour-level match this season to world #301 Malek Jaziri in the Davis Cup.
But he has played some good tennis at Challenger-level and impressed in coming through the qualifying with wins over Mikael Ymer and Gianluca Moroni, before beating Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 4-6 6-1 6-1 to score is first tour-level win of the season. Still, Coria is a class apart from the players that Basic has been facing of late. Coria may not have it all his own way, but he should have enough to get past Basic and into the last eight.
Prediction: Coria in 3
Embed from Getty Images
Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Alex Molcan
Head-to-head: first meeting
One has to imagine that Felix Auger-Aliassime is targeting this week as a chance to add to the title he won earlier this season in Rotterdam. It has been a largely impressive season for the Canadian. He did lost in the first round in both Indian Wells and Miami, but reached the last eight at Melbourne Park, won his first title in Rotterdam and made the final a week later in Marseille. In the first round at the ATP Marrakech Open, he beat home hope Elliot Benchetrit 6-3 6-3.
He may need to work harder up against Alex Molcan. The Slovakian has impressed of late and last season reached his first tour-level final in Belgrade, where he tested Novak Djokovic in a valiant losing effort. He has not made a particularly impressive start to the season, but has found a measure of form of late, reaching the second round in Dubai and the last eight at the Marbella Challenger last time out. Still, this should be a relatively comfortable day at the office for Auger-Aliassime.
Prediction: Auger-Aliassime in 2
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
