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Horse Racing Tennis Picks Today For January 26th: Free Tennis Picks For Brandon Holt vs Blaise Bicknell and Radu Albot vs Marco Cecchinato
Tennis Picks Today: January 26th
- Holt vs Bicknell: Holt -4.5 games
- Albot vs Cecchinato: Cecchinato to win
Nice day down on the ATP Challenger Tour, as Abdullah Shelbayh comes through as a high-odds underdog and Thiago Monteiro to cash our larger stakes bet.
For our final previews of the week, let’s delve into Brandon Holt vs Blaise Bicknell at the Southern California Open 2 and Radu Albot vs Marco Cecchinato from the Punta del Este Challenger.
For more daily tennis tips, visit the bettingexpert community, but if you want more expert tips from Jon Reid, visit our Expert Insights section.
In this article:
- Brandon Holt vs Blaise Bicknell Expert Tip
- Brandon Holt Recent Form
- Blaise Bicknell Recent Form
- Brandon Holt vs Blaise Bicknell H2H Stat of the Match
- Radu Albot vs Marco Cecchinato Expert Tip
- Radu Albot Recent Form
- Marco Cecchinato Recent Form
- Radu Albot vs Marco Cecchinato H2H Stat of the Match
- Safer Gambling
Brandon Holt vs Blaise Bicknell (Tourney Name) Free Pick: Holt Too Strong for Middling Bicknell
- Pick: Holt -4.5 games
- Best Odds: 1.92
- Bookmaker: Pinnacle
- Stakes: 4/10
Odds as at 2:30 am UK Time on January 26th, 2024. Odds may now differ.
Holt’s games may have their limitations, but in a field that’s as weak as this tournament’s, he is closer to being the cream of the crop than anything.
Bicknell has typically been forced into lower-tier Challenger draws and even then, he’s been fairly average more often than not.
Holt doesn’t commit too many unforced errors on his own, Bicknell struggles to hit through opponents (and it’ll be tougher with Holt on the other side of the net on the mud-slow Indian Wells courts), and Holt is much more competent at constructing points and working the ball around the court with purpose.
Read on for more expert insights.
Brandon Holt Recent Form
The 25-year-old American has started his season off in decent fashion, scheduling well to set himself up for as many wins as possible in the early stages of the 2024 campaign.
Holt has started 10-3 for the season, losing in the final at this venue just last week, having been a set away from the title.
Holt doesn’t have the most powerful game, but he’s able to back up his first serve well enough and does a great job moving the ball side-to-side with depth, occasionally mixing in some shots with lower net clearance in an effort to take time away from opponents.
He’s often vulnerable against those who can overpower him or those that play more regularly on the main ATP circuit. Bicknell doesn’t really fit either of those descriptions. The 25-year-old should be able to move through with relative ease, as he has in each of his opening two matches in Indian Wells.
Throw in his strong returning abilities against a somewhat underpowered serve, and he should generate more than enough break chances to cover a rather large game handicap.
Blaise Bicknell Recent Form
The Jamaican is another player that’s done a fairly strong job scheduling in the last six to eight months, as he’s risen into the top-400 now without having much to his game.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s not making deep runs into Challenger events with any regularity, but he has risen from the ITF Tour to the Challenger circuit and he has qualified several times on the secondary tour.
He did have a shocking run on the clay of Lima to a final. However, apart from that and a late-season run to the quarters in Temuco, Chile, during a time most players are done playing for the year, it’s a lot of first and second round exits.
It’s tough to see many strengths in his game on the court, and the data actually backs that up. He only holds serve at the Challenger level about 70% of the time, wins fewer than 65% of his first serve points (that could be especially bad given the returner he’s playing) and his ace rate is actually lower than his double fault rate.
He’s done a great job reaching the quarterfinals this week by beating two lowly-ranked players, but I can’t see him succeeding here.
Brandon Holt vs Blaise Bicknell H2H – Stat of the Match
The only match these two have played came last week at this same venue. It took Holt three sets to win the match, but the margin of victory in terms of games was six, with the American winning each of his sets by a dominant 6-2 scoreline.
If Bicknell had a bit more power or Holt was a bit more erratic, I could see this being a closer match, but all signs point to one-way traffic in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Radu Albot vs Marco Cecchinato (Punta del Este Challenger) Free Pick: Back More Natural Clay Courter in Slower Conditions
- Pick: Cecchinato to win
- Best Odds: 1.91
- Bookmaker: Pinnacle
- Stakes: 3/10
Odds as at 2:30 am UK Time on January 26th, 2024. Odds may now differ.
Albot was unusually strong on clay in 2023 (his 13 match wins were more than the three seasons prior combined), but he’s a hard-court natural and his style isn’t really conducive to success on the red dirt.
He doesn’t play with a whole lot of topspin, but also lacks power, making him rather vulnerable on the slower surface.
He’s picked up a few wins this week, but I’m pretty sure he’s only playing to get matches in on the clay before his country’s Davis Cup tie in Uruguay next week.
With no way to really hurt Cecchinato and both style and comfort favouring the Italian, I have the 31-year-old as more likely to win than the odds suggest.
Read on for more expert insights.
Radu Albot Recent Form
Albot has somehow lost his first two matches in quicker conditions of the season, while winning each of his first two on the clay in Punta del Este.
Now, the first of those came against Genaro Olivieri, who looks absolutely awful since returning from injury. He does deserve credit for the victory against Luciano Darderi, though. The young Italian had a strong end to 2023 in South American Challengers, so the loss to Albot was a bit more surprising.
Other than that, however, we haven’t seen Albot win much on clay since the French Open – mainly because he’s made an effort not to play on it at all.
We’ll see if he can keep picking up wins on Friday, but I wouldn’t expect him to keep the hot run going.
Marco Cecchinato Recent Form
Another player who has used this week to turn around some poor form to start the season, Cecchinato has needed this mini win streak far more than his Moldovan counterpart.
Not only did Cecchinato lose his first two matches of the 2024 season, but his losing streak in professional matches extended all the way back to July. He actually went just 2-15 dating back to Geneva, the week before the French Open open.
That means in just a matter of days, he’s matched his win total of the last seven or eight months.
He didn’t exactly take down slouches, either. He dismantled Cristian Garin – a top-100 player who plays his best on clay – and took down a rising Santiago Rodriguez Taverna in straight sets as well.
Cecchinato doesn’t have much power to his game, but his topspin, fluid movement and his ability to hit the ball into the outer thirds of the court are all strengths. The combination of spin with his ability to hit with angles can prove especially tough for opponents when they are dragged off the court.
It’d make for a great story if Cecchinato could use this week to revitalise his career. As someone betting on him to win this match, I’m all for it.
Radu Albot vs Marco Cecchinato H2H – Stat of the Match
Albot leads the head-to-head 2-1, with all three prior meetings coming on clay, strangely enough.
None of those matches have been anytime in the recent past though, and the only match in the last five years did go Cecchinato’s way in straight sets.
I’m still firmly in the camp that this is Cecchinato’s match to lose, and with his ranking outside of the top-200 and his really poor form, he could certainly use all the wins he can get for both his rank and his confidence.
SAFER GAMBLING
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