Tennis Picks Today for January 29th: Free Tennis Picks for Bonzi vs Mmoh and Murray vs Benoit Paire
Tennis Picks Today: January 29th
- Bonzi vs Mmoh: Mmoh to win
- Murray vs Paire: Paire to win
We get the win in the clay court match with Marco Cecchinato and get fortunate Brandon Holt retired after looking lethargic for the first set and a half of his match, as that bet voids.
This week, we move past the Australian Open and back to the normal ATP and WTA Tours, with one tournament on the men’s side and a pair of events for the women. There are also a slew of Challengers to look out for as well.
For Monday’s previews, let’s look at Benjamin Bonzi vs Michael Mmoh and Andy Murray vs Benoit Paire at the Open Sud de France.
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In this article:
- Benjamin Bonzi vs Michael Mmoh Expert Tip
- Benjamin Bonzi Recent Form
- Michael Mmoh Recent Form
- Benjamin Bonzi vs Michael Mmoh H2H Stat of the Match
- Andy Murray vs Benoit Paire Expert Tip
- Andy Murray Recent Form
- Benoit Paire Recent Form
- Andy Murray vs Benoit Paire H2H Stat of the Match
- Safer Gambling
Benjamin Bonzi vs Michael Mmoh (Open Sud de France) Free Pick: Back the Underdog in Close Contest
- Pick: Mmoh to win
- Best Odds: 2.38
- Bookmaker: Pinnacle
- Stakes: 3/10
Odds as at am UK Time on January 29th, 2024. Odds may now differ.
That leads me to my next point. It’s tough to see where Bonzi really separates himself on the court from the American. Mmoh has excellent rally tolerance and moves around the court well. He defends in and out of corners, and he should find chances to break Bonzi along the way.
The lack of real advantages to Bonzi (he will have a slight edge in ability to dictate in baseline exchanges, but not much else) is why I believe this is a much closer match than the current odds imply.
Read on for more expert insights.
Benjamin Bonzi Recent Form
It’s been a tough few months for the 27-year-old who had once pulled himself inside the world’s top 50.
Bonzi hasn’t won a main draw match at the main tour level since August when he reached the third round of the U.S. Open. It’s odd, because when he drops down to the Challenger level, he does look like one of the best players you’ll find at that level, and there’s nothing wrong with his game.
He doesn’t possess the raw power of some, but he can still dictate play. His serve isn’t one of the best on tour, but it’s good enough on quick courts, and he has pretty decent shot tolerance more often than not.
The fact remains, however, that he has yet to win a match in 2024, and when he did win a few matches in Challenger draws back in the fall, he didn’t really beat anyone of note.
Michael Mmoh Recent Form
Look, I won’t make a case that Mmoh is in brilliant form. I watched much of his loss this past week to Pierre Hugues Herbert at the Challenger in Quimper and didn’t come away all that impressed.
That said, he did make things close in the end, fighting back from a huge deficit and the Frenchman did go on to win that tournament.
His other losses weren’t great, but one was a close affair that saw him win more games than he lost (a quirk of the tennis scoring system) and the other was just a clunker of a performance. Those happen from time to time. Plus, as I mentioned above, Bonzi hasn’t won yet in 2023 himself and has lost as a large favourite as well.
Mmoh should find a few points behind that first serve while outlasting Bonzi in prolonged rallies on other occasions.
His game may not be all that dominant, but his level is generally pretty consistent, and taking on a volatile player who can be error-prone, but also will struggle to just hit his way through Mmoh, the upset could very well happen.
Benjamin Bonzi vs Michael Mmoh H2H – Stat of the Match
We often see the reason for an odd price between two players come from one holding a positive head-to-head record against the other in the past.
That isn’t the case here, as Bonzi and Mmoh have never met as professionals.
That makes this price even more curious in my books, and one that I’m willing to attack.
Andy Murray vs Benoit Paire (Open Sud de France) Free Pick: Paire Safe to Back at Long Odds
- Pick: Paire to win
- Best Odds: 3.75
- Bookmaker: bet365
- Stakes: 3/10
Odds as at am UK Time on January 29th, 2024. Odds may now differ.
For me, I can deal with it at this price. If I have to win a bet at a 50% rate in the long run to break even, I’m not so fond of backing Paire. With his penchant to tank matches when things aren’t going his way, there isn’t as much wiggle room.
With a break-even percentage below 30%, however, that wiggle room is there and Paire’s serve, backhand and potentially being buoyed by a home crowd (one of the few players I do believe it has a known impact on) are too much to ignore when put together to pass on.
Murray is still a capable player, but he’s far from being the dominant force he once was and is more vulnerable in my eyes than 3.75 odds would suggest.
Read on for more expert insights.
Andy Murray Recent Form
The other part of this handicap is that it’s not like Murray is setting the world on fire in 2024 either.
The 36-year-old’s only win of the year came in an exhibition in Australia against Dominic Thiem. His other results include a three-set defeat against Grigor Dimitrov (not the worst, since the Bulgarian won that tournament) and Tomas Martin Etcheverry beating him in straight sets at Melbourne Park. The latter was pretty poor from Murray, who won just eight games in three sets against someone who is improving, but still far from being dominant on hard courts.
Even if you’re a fan of the Brit, I think it’s time to admit that his name recognition is earning him a bit too much respect in the betting markets.
He doesn’t have much raw power, and his baseline game consists mainly of grinding and waiting out errors. It often leads to him playing far more close matches than I think we were used to seeing when he was in his prime and if an opponent can stay composed, he’s eminently beatable in 2024.
Benoit Paire Recent Form
Paire hasn’t been the pinnacle of success himself in recent times. Also in his mid-30s, concerns about Paire’s motivation in matches persist.
His willingness to drop down and play Challengers late last year (he was trying to secure automatic entry into the Australian Open main draw), was admirable. That said, he just hasn’t been able to produce his best of late.
He’s still got a big first serve, though, and his backhand will always be among the strong ones in the men’s game when he’s engaged in a match.
The big X Factor in this one is the crowd. They’ve already been making noise for Frenchmen in qualifying, and with Paire being from Avignon (about 90 minutes away from Montpellier), I’d expect them to be even more raucous when he takes centre stage.
A motivated Paire is much better than his ranking would indicate. Let’s hope we see him on Monday!
Andy Murray vs Benoit Paire H2H – Stat of the Match
Perhaps Paire’s plummeting ranking is playing a bit too much into the price. It could also be the head-to-head record between these two.
Sir Andy leads Paire 4-0 all-time, though it’s worth noting only one of those matches has taken place in the last 6.5 years, so take that record with a grain of salt.
Matches from 2017 and before don’t really sway me, and I’ll be rooting on Paire to give the night session crowd what they want to see.
SAFER GAMBLING
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