Enzo Couacaud vs Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez Prediction, Stats, Form, H2H, June 6th

The men are off for a day from the French Open, so for our Thursday men’s previews, we’ll go to the ATP Challenger Tour. To start, let’s delve into Couacaud vs Pacheco Mendez prediction from the Zagreb Open.

Pacheco Mendez’s win probability is around 43%, while Couacaud is favored to win at 1.65 odds. The handicap is 2.5 games and the total games line is 21.5.

Couacaud vs Pacheco Mendez Prediction: Couacaud is Far More Established to be a Slight Favourite

• Prediction: Couacaud to win
• Best Odds: 1.63
• Bookmaker: Pinnacle
• Stakes: 4/10

Odds as at 2:00 am UK Time on June 6th, 2024. Odds may now differ.

Once a top junior in the sport, it hasn’t been smooth sailing in the professional ranks for the 19-year-old. While you can get away with being incredibly consistent and working the ball around the court with angles and topspin from both wings at the junior level, coming into the pros without any kind of power from the baseline or on serve is going to make life very difficult on a player.

That’s where Pacheco Mendez finds himself at the moment. The lefty has looked great in ITF tournaments, but he’s only made the quarterfinals of a Challenger or main tour event once in 29 attempts. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible he wins this match, it’s just an indicator of how hard he’s found it to step up to the next level.

Further, he’s playing a Challenger Tour regular and someone who has consistently found success in grand slam main draws against some of the best players this level has to offer.

Couacaud doesn’t have the most power out there, but he’s not noticeably underpowered like his younger counterpart and he’s got a well-rounded game himself.

I’m surprised that one upset win in the opening round (it was a good win and the best of his career, in all likelihood) has the market believing in him to this extent. Our Couacaud vs Pacheco Mendez best bet is for Couacaud to win.

More tennis previews for Thursday’s action can be found on the expert insights page.

Enzo Couacaud Recent Form

After reaching the final in New Caledonia at a Challenger tournament to start his season, things began to unravel for the Frenchman in January and February. That resulted in him deciding to head to South America and play some clay court tennis on the Challenger circuit against what tend to be weaker fields.

The outcome was what he would have been hoping for, as he reached the final in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, and then won the next week in Florianopolis (also in Brazil). Since returning to Europe, he’s flipped between winning and losing matches, but he’s had some tough competition along the way and had to retire from one of his matches.

After a hard-fought battle on Tuesday to reach this stage, I think the more experienced and well-rounded Couacaud would be pretty disappointed not to move on to his quarterfinal since that trip to South America.

He’s stronger from the baseline, shouldn’t be bothered by the longer rallies, and should be able to finish far more points on his own.

Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez Recent Form

Last month Pacheco Mendez did a nice job back down on the ITF circuit, winning the title at one tournament before reaching the final at his next event.

As I alluded to above, however, he’s seldom found much success when taking on better players. That’s what he’s tasked with on Thursday and moving to clay courts may seem like an advantage for his rock-solid game, but with his lack of power being an issue, that only gets worse on even slower courts, where he has very few ways to actually win points on his own.

I’m not sure he can wait out the mistakes from someone like Couacaud he’ll need to move on. Last match he pulled off the upset against Nicolas Moreno de Alboran, but the American’s backhand is a clear weakness and with the spin, the young lefty can play with, he was able to elicit mistakes by sending that forehand crosscourt into that shaky backhand.

That probably won’t be as effective here and he’ll need some different solutions on Thursday.

Enzo Couacaud vs Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez H2H – Stat of the Match

Pacheco Mendez hasn’t played enough Challenger events – particularly in Europe – to have had the chance to play against Couacaud, so this will be the first meeting between the two.

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