Daily Tennis Tips – 4th April

After a solid first-round win, Aussie Aleksandar Vukic is the slightest of outsiders against Grand Prix Hassan II second seed Sebastian Ofner.

World No.67 Vukic was too good for Frenchman Alexandre Muller, firing down nine aces in a 6-3 7-6 victory. The 27-year-old brought a decent formline to Morocco, taking a set of Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells and beating Fabio Fognini and Quentin Halys at the Phoenix Challenger.

Ofner, ranked 47th, received a first-round bye but hasn’t had the best of runs since reaching the Hong Kong Open semis in January. He is on a 3-9 trot, losing in the first round of all three South American clay swing events he competed in.

The Austrian beat Kei Nishikori first up in Miami before going down to 20th seed Francisco Cerundolo.

This head-to-head is one-all – Vukic won a Challenger clash back in 2019, while Ofner took out a 2022 French Open qualifier.

Ofner made it to the fourth round of the French Open last year and has five Futures and Challengers titles on clay to his name, but Vukic is no slouch on the surface and should be able to parlay his recent momentum into a minor upset.

Charleston Open top seed Jessica Pegula is a $1.22 favourite to account for a revived Magda Linette in the Round of 16.

After enjoying a first-round bye, Pegula had to fight hard to overcome Amanda Anisimova 3-6 6-4 7-6. The world No.5 gathered some steam after a slow and interrupted start to the season with a quarter-final run at the Miami Masters, ultimately going down to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three.

Thirty-year-old Pegula has some handy clay achievements on her CV, including French Open quarter-final and Madrid Masters final appearances in 2022.

Linette has endured a gruelling start to 2024 that saw her tumble from the top 20 to her current ranking of No.63. The Polish veteran is 3-8 on the season and exited both Sunshine Double events in the first round, at the hands of Taylor Townsend and Lesia Tsurenko, respectively.

But the 2021 French Open semi-finalist has looked much more comfortable on clay this week – accounting for Petra Martic 6-3 6-4 and 13th seed Dayana Yastremska 0-6 6-4 6-3.

The pair’s only previous clash was in the fourth round of last year’s Miami Masters, with Pegula prevailing 6-1 7-5. The surface tips the scales back closer to even in this apparent mismatch, however, and Linette is getting a handy start here.

Coming off arguably his best win of a difficult 2024 season to date, Aussie Max Purcell is gearing up for a Round of 16 clash with Michael Mmoh at the US Men’s Clay Court Championships.

World No.79 Purcell snapped a four-match losing streak with a 7-5 6-7 6-4 over Alex Michelsen in the first round.

Similarly, 123rd-ranked Mmoh ended a lean recent run with a 6-2 7-6 defeat of Juan Pablo Varillas – firing 10 aces past the Peruvian.

This duo have played twice before, sharing the Challenger level clashes one apiece in 2018-19.

Purcell heads into this one as a narrow $2.00 and has a job on his hands negating Mmoh’s serve. But Mmoh isn’t the strongest clay-court player going around – despite a quarter-final run here in 2022 as a lucky loser – and I’m expecting a seesawing three-set battle.

Sixth-seeded Aussie Jordan Thompson lines up against Aleksandar Kovacevic for the second time in 2024 in the Round of 16 at the US Men’s Clay Court Championships.

Kovacevic will take the psychological edge of a 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory over Thompson at the Mexican Open six weeks ago. Thompson won their only other encounter, on grass at last July’s Hall of Fame Open – a 6-0 6-1 drubbing.

Thompson was coming off a stunning capture of the Los Cabos Open title – including wins over Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud – that lifted him to a career-high ranking of No.32 before being upset by Kovacevic.

The 29-year-old then lost first-round matches at both Sunshine Double events, before getting back in the winner’s circle in the first round here against Yibing Wu, prevailing 6-4 6-4.

World No.98 Kovacevic was also bundled out in the first round at Indian Wells and Miami, but bounced back with a gutsy 7-6 6-7 6-4 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis earlier this week – out-acing the big-serving Aussie 14-10 and dropping just one game on serve.

Thompson has his work cut out here but seems refreshed in Houston after appearing burnt out on the back of his Los Cabos heroics.