The fourth edition of the ATP Cordoba Open commences on Monday–the beginning of the Golden Swing as the tour heads to the South American clay courts. Day 1 is headlined by a clash between the seventh seeded Benoit Paire and Jaume Munar, whilst former champion Juan Ignacio Londero will also be in action.
ATP Cordoba Day 1 Predictions
Pedro Martinez vs Thiago Monteiro
H2H: Martinez 1-0
There’s little to split these two. Martinez and Monteiro both do their best work on a clay court. Both made decent starts to the season in Australia in unfavourable conditions for their playing styles. I’ll give the slightest edge to the Spaniard here, he’s slightly more likely to outlast the Brazilian in what will be a baseline scrap.
Prediction: Martinez in 3
Juan Pablo Varillas vs Facundo Bagnis
Varillas came through the qualifying draw with a pair of straight set victories over Alessandro Giannessi and Tomas Barrios Vera. Varillas is therefore used to the conditions and also boasts a 2-0 record over Federico Coria heading into their opening round clash. All things equal this is another tight matchup with little to separate the pair, but Varillas being used to the conditions and his favorable head-to-head record seemingly give him the edge.
Prediction: Varillas in 3
Yannick Hanfmann vs Juan Ignacio Londero
H2H: First meeting.
Juan Ignacio Londero won the inaugural Cordoba Open in 2019, his first and only ATP singles title. Things haven’t worked out to plan since that stunning moment for the Argentine. The former champion enters this year’s main draw as a wild card as he plays his first event of the new year. Meanwhile, Hanfmann was already had a busy start to the year. The German successfully came through the qualifying draw at the Australian Open, upset Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round of the main draw before succumbing to Rafael Nada in straight sets.
This is an extremely difficult match to predict because both players are capable of playing very well and getting on a roll. However, both players are equally capable of throwing in a stinker of a performance at any moment. I’ll give Hanfmann the slight edge here given the confidence he must have taken from a successful run in Melbourne. Londero is capable of wild tennis at the best of times, let alone his first match of the season, can’t trust him right now.
Prediction: Hanfmann in 3
Benoit Paire vs Jaume Munar
H2H: Paire 2-1.
Benoit Paire is somewhat surprisingly in South America for the golden swing for a second year in a row. Paire’s trip to South America didn’t go well in 2021 as he managed to win 1 match across 3 tournaments. The Frenchman does have some momentum on his side at the moment after a surprising run to the third round at the Australian Open. The 32-year-old beat Thiago Monteiro and Grigor Dimitrov before succumbing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in a comeptiteiv4 set match.
Jaume Munar had some decent results of his own down under as he reached the quarter-finals at the Melbourne 250 event and pushed Aslan Karatsev to five sets in his opening round defeat at the Australian Open. Back to his preferred clay court surface the Spaniard is poised to excel over the next few weeks after a positive start to the year in Australia.
There isn’t any meaningful recent head-to-head meeting of note. Paire did beat Munar 6-1 6-3 in Marrakesh in 2019 in their most recent completed match; expect a very different result on this occasion. Munar looked very solid from the back of the court in Melbourne. That type of level will make him an extremely uncomfortable opponent for Paire on a clay court. Expect the Spaniard to be too solid here.
Prediction: Munar in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
