{"id":55862,"date":"2023-04-02T15:35:45","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T19:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=55862"},"modified":"2023-04-02T15:35:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T19:35:45","slug":"atp-marrakech-day-1-predictions-gaston-struff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2023\/04\/02\/atp-marrakech-day-1-predictions-gaston-struff\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP Marrakech Day 1 Predictions Including Hugo Gaston vs Jan-Lennard Struff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Clay season is finally upon us! It&#8217;s many a fan&#8217;s favourite time of the year and for good reason. Only the grittiest competitors will excel&#8211;our first day at the ATP event in Marrakech is no exception to that rule. with serial drop-shotter Hugo Gaston&#8217;s match against the hefty German Jan-Lennard Struff topping the billing. We&#8217;ve tried to predict who the sternest competitors will be on the first day of battle at the Grand Prix Hassan II.<\/p>\n<h2>ATP Marrakech Day 1 Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4>Aslan Karatsev vs Francesco Passaro<\/h4>\n<h4>Head-to-head: First meeting<\/h4>\n<p>It&#8217;s been a rough fall from grace for Aslan Karatsev. He essentially flipped his <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/02\/13\/aslan-karatsev-remarkable-rise\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">win-loss record of 37-20<\/a> in 2021 to 18-31 in 2022 and hasn&#8217;t looked much better this year, his only notable run coming in Pune against players without much hard-court pedigree. The Russian is still prone to loose runs of form which makes the transition to this surface particularly unforgiving for him.<\/p>\n<p>Francesco Passaro is not the best man to be playing with that in mind. The Italian is a tough clay-courter and will be intelligent enough to play patient tennis here. It might be close but we foresee Passaro getting under Karatsev&#8217;s skin.<br \/>\nPrediction:\u00a0<em>Passaro in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"SDPSKrvJTzdqv-_VWfgUDw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1440561085\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'SDPSKrvJTzdqv-_VWfgUDw',sig:'31miKduvCkkc2a3JEW5a68a2jp4kHfa7OtGwXTaZGmc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1440561085',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Jaume Munar vs Elliot Benchetrit<\/h4>\n<h4>Head-to-head: Munar 2-0 Benchetrit (all levels)<\/h4>\n<p>This would be some upset. Jaume Munar <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/05\/27\/jaume-munar-aggressive-mindset\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">will let the opponent dictate play<\/a>, so it&#8217;s very possible Elliot Benchetrit could light up for periods of the match.<\/p>\n<p>For all the dips in Munar&#8217;s recent form however, it&#8217;s easy to forget he&#8217;s still an absolute nightmare to play on this surface. Benchetrit hasn&#8217;t shown us enough throughout his career to suggest he&#8217;s got the consistency to pull through here.<br \/>\nPrediction:\u00a0<em>Munar in 2.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"AfovYLmkSUpf3QPB5M5PbQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1247197342\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'AfovYLmkSUpf3QPB5M5PbQ',sig:'vVaFxjbSOFaI-gY2STWD_xeb_vUvrZssu8Nn6blvkf8=',w:'594px',h:'404px',items:'1247197342',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Alexei Popyrin vs Younes Lalami Laaroussi<\/h4>\n<h4>Head-to-head: First meeting<\/h4>\n<p>This is some mismatch in ranking. Younes Lalami Laaroussi is a 19-year-old Moroccan that joined the Top 1000 as recently as last year and he&#8217;s beaten three fellow Top 1000 players throughout his career.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s got the youthful exuberance to earn himself a few games, maybe even shock Alexei Popyrin for the best part of a set. The Aussie will settle however and has more than enough firepower to see this one through in straights.<br \/>\nPrediction:\u00a0<em>Popyrin in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"TWlYP1JOQqRT3RD3i_Ai0w\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1458141800\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'TWlYP1JOQqRT3RD3i_Ai0w',sig:'NUjljeSB8_FczJNLV08dMYK-9aduVuGjLsTkNNIhmUI=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1458141800',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Hugo Gaston vs Jan-Lennard Struff<\/h4>\n<h4>Head-to-head: First meeting<\/h4>\n<p>This one could be the match of the first day. Both players have hit recent runs of form&#8211;Jan-Lennard Struff has won 11 of his last 14 matches and Hugo Gaston reached the final of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2023\/03\/20\/challenger-tour-weekly-recap-borges-first-challenger-175\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Challenger in Vina Del Mar<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n<p>With both players threatening to play close to their best, the advantage has got to go to Struff though. Don&#8217;t be fooled into thinking the German isn&#8217;t a competent clay-court player&#8211;his first-serve is damaging enough to be effective on all surfaces and his forehand packs a hell of a lot of weight behind it, kicking off of the red-dirt. Gaston has the potential to scrap his way to a set but all the percentages fall with the man 20cm taller than him.<br \/>\nPrediction:\u00a0<em>Struff in 3.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clay season is finally upon us! It&#8217;s many a fan&#8217;s favourite time of the year and for good reason. Only the grittiest competitors will excel&#8211;our first day at the ATP event in Marrakech is no exception to that rule. with serial drop-shotter Hugo Gaston&#8217;s match against the hefty German Jan-Lennard Struff topping the billing. We&#8217;ve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3704,"featured_media":55869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[3970,15508,9895,15582,5287,6250,17486,17530,17612,5290,10391,15985,4224,15612,2397,15596,2373,2369,18717,18718],"class_list":["post-55862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-alexei-popyrin","tag-alexei-popyrin-predictions","tag-aslan-karatsev","tag-aslan-karatsev-predictions","tag-atp-marrakech-predictions","tag-elliot-benchetrit","tag-elliot-benchetrit-predictions","tag-francesco-passaro","tag-francesco-passaro-predictions","tag-grand-prix-hassan-ii-predictions","tag-hugo-gaston","tag-hugo-gaston-predictions","tag-jan-lennard-struff","tag-jan-lennard-struff-predictions","tag-jaume-munar","tag-jaume-munar-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions","tag-younes-lalami-laaroussi","tag-younes-lalami-laaroussi-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3704"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}