Alexandre Muller has made sure of his place in the top 100 when the rankings are updated on Monday by making the final at the ATP Marrakech Grand Prix. Can he go a step further and also win a maiden ATP Tour title? Trying to stop him from achieving that feat will be the experienced Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our prediction for the final, but who will come out on top?
ATP Marrakech Final Prediction
Roberto Carballes Baena vs Alexandre Muller
Head-to-head: Carballes Baena 1-0 Muller
Muller certainly wasn’t among the players expected to break into the top 100, but he started massively exceeding expectations around June last year. First, he grabbed a maiden Challenger title in Blois, and he has continued to produce this year – reaching the final in Waco, making an ATP 250 quarterfinal in Doha, and then this run in Marrakech, which also saw him record the best win of his career over world #21 Lorenzo Musetti.
Carballes Baena already has an ATP Tour title from Quito five years ago. That run was significantly more impressive in terms of the quality of the opposition, which is slightly ironic in light of the work that the Spaniard has put in to elevate his game over the years. With previous experience at this stage, he has to be considered the favorite against Muller on Sunday.
In his semifinal against Pavel Kotov, the Frenchman had a lot of nervy moments where he wasn’t quite holding up mentally, but outdueled his opponent in a bit of a pushing contest. Does he have enough in his baseline game to properly trouble Carballes Baena? Not really. Muller is a grinder himself and usually doesn’t feel comfortable attacking unless he really gets a great opportunity for it.
This match will definitely consist of a billion long rallies and that’s right up the alley of both players. Recently, Carballes Baena has been the one showing he can simply produce more offensively and that 5/10% could mean everything in this matchup. He should be able to handle his nerves much better too.
Prediction: Carballes Baena in 3
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