Jaume Munar vs Roman Safiullin Prediction, Stats, Form, H2H, April 8th

Though there was a trio of events last week on red dirt, the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters represent the real beginning of the clay court season for many.

The women are off for international duty this week, but the ATP Tour is bringing together some of the best players in the world for the first Masters 1000 of the clay court swing. Let’s look at Munar vs Safiullin prediction on a loaded Monday of first-round action.

Safiullin is valued by the market to win 40% of the time, while Munar is favored to win at 1.57 odds. The handicap is three games and the total games line is 22.

Munar vs Safiullin Prediction: Munar to Benefit From Discrepancy in Clay Court Abilities

• Prediction: Munar -3 Games
• Best Odds: 1.96
• Bookmaker: Pinnacle
• Stakes: 5/10

Odds as at 2:45 am UK Time on April 8th, 2024. Odds may now differ.

Of all the more defensive clay court specialist players that get labeled as “pushers,” Munar is probably my favorite. Sure, he can track down anything and everything and he can wait out errors with the best of them. But, he also has decent pop on his first serve, and if you try and play back at him with plenty of margin for error and leave a ball short. Don’t kid yourself, he will step in and attack it.

This is the picture-perfect matchup for the qualifier too. Not only is Safiullin more of a quick court player, but I’d make the case that, unlike someone like Ugo Humbert (we preview his match as well, which you can find over on the Expert Insights page). He also hasn’t shown much ability to translate that to slower surfaces – including higher bouncing hard courts.

The surface edge here is a large one and that leads to a matchup advantage I just can’t overlook.

Munar came through qualifying, but because he received a retirement in the first set from his opponent on Saturday. He also shouldn’t be all that worn down. Ideal spot to back the Spaniard. Our Munar vs Safiullin prediction is for Munar to cover the -3 game handicap.

Jaume Munar Recent Form

Another player who is sure to be thrilled to see the clay court portion of the calendar upon us. Munar has already picked up a pair of decent wins in qualifying. Granted, one was via a retirement just five games into the match against Botic van de Zandschulp.

The other saw him come back from a set down and then a breakdown in the decider against Yannick Hanfmann in a high-quality match. The German has risen to the main tour level in the last two years and has a game that features both power and spin. That makes him dangerous on clay when he’s hitting his spots and there were times when he took over the match from Munar.

The Spaniard’s strengths were on display though. His ball retrieval was top-shelf, and backing up his first serve for long stretches was key (especially in coming back from deficits). And his ability to change directions while defending and on the run helped him bring rallies back to neutral footing.

He also played the South American clay swing earlier this year and two of his four losses in South America came in the quarterfinals and to the eventual champion & runner-up of those tournaments.

Last week in Marrakech, he put in a strong performance, once again losing to the eventual champion in the huge-hitting Matteo Berrettini. He took that one to three sets with one set lost in a tiebreak as well.

I think Munar is playing well, and has a huge matchup and surface advantage he can exploit. I have this as a two-break margin for the handicap and, as such, will gladly bet the -3 games.

Roman Safiullin Recent Form

Slow-court tennis simply isn’t Safiullin’s jam. Heck, the last time he played an opponent that ran everything down, he even lost in quicker conditions on a hard court to Lorenzo Musetti. His opponent had him missing basic forehand and overheads!

We also saw him try to play the Mexican hard court swing through Los Cabos and Acapulco and not just fail miserably in terms of results (he failed to win a set in two matches), but also when it comes to the eye test. The flat hitting had its pace eaten up by the slower courts, and after enough time, he’d commit an error. When he tried to adapt, he simply pushed the balls back in play and didn’t have the foresight to construct points, nor the topspin to render them less attackable.

The next months should be about picking up the paycheques and trying to improve on the surface, but I don’t have any expectations for the Russian outside of another potentially strong run in Madrid.

Jaume Munar vs Roman Safiullin H2H – Stat of the Match

Safiullin does have the lone win against Munar, but that 6-4, 6-3 win didn’t just come on hard courts, it came indoors and on traditionally fast courts in Basel, Switzerland. That setting would result in a near-total opposite handicap of the match.

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