Lukas Lacko vs Bernard Tomic

Lukas Lacko entered this season with lot of hope that he can make some steady progress at ATP level, as this is his first season where he is completely trying to play at ATP tournaments mostly. However, clay remains a mystery for him as he rarely plays it and he has only two professional wins at clay in his life. One win was at Davis Cup game over unranked Georgian player four years ago and the other win was two seasons before in the first round of French Open against Yani. This is enough to describe how poor Lukas Lacko is at clay and that this isn’t something that can be changed any time soon. This season he tried only three tournaments at clay, losing firstly in Bucharest to Balazs (#264th at ATP rankings), then to Muller in Belgrade and finally two weeks ago in the first round of challenger in Prague, to Gabashvili in two sets.

Bernard Tomic, on the other side, is still learning how to play at clay courts as this is his first season where he has good enough ranking to enter any tournament he wants. This is also, till now, his best season and also the first season where he plays ATP tournaments only, reaching  #28th in the World at this moment. The Australian already played several tournaments at clay, with no major success, but still winning against solid player. He has wins over Istomin, Gulbis, Rochus, Starace, Giraldo, players which can’t be compared to his today’s opponent. Last week he played in Rome, winning against Giraldo in three sets, but losing to Rome finalist Novak Djokovic in two sets.

As said, Tomic is improving his tennis with giant steps each day, while Lacko has obvious problems playing at clay and only two professional wins for a 24 years old player are obvious sign that this is not his surface. Tomic should have no problems reaching the second round here and generally, trying to go as further as possible at this tournament just before the French Open.

Bet: Bernard Tomic 2-0 in sets @1.69 with Pinnacle Sports