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Horse Racing Thursday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Challenger Modena, Terence Atmane vs Moez Echargui
Terence Atmane vs Moez Echargui Best Bet: Thursday, June 29th
Nice to see a bet get over the line, as Dennis Novak was clearly a class above Charles Broom in Wimbledon qualifying. The only break points he faced during that match came from 30-0 up and 40-0 up in his service games, meaning even the chances Broom had were mere momentary blips from the Austrian.
For Thursday, we’ll head to the Challenger event taking place in Italy and preview the matchup between Terence Atmane and Moez Echargui.
In this article:
Terence Atmane vs Moez Echargui Preview
June 29th, 15:30 (UK Time)
While there are a few ATP Tour events and 16 qualifying matches at Wimbledon to dissect, we should also be mindful of the opportunities available to us at the Challenger Tour level.
In fact, I’d make the case that with most of the betting market’s attention on the shinier events, there may be some value many have overlooked on the less popular circuit.
That’s the case for the week’s penultimate article from the men’s side of things. Atmane is someone to watch in the coming months. The 21-year-old from France has already risen into the world’s top 250 rankings-wise (he was outside the top 500 at this time last year) and has had the best season of his professional career by a wide margin.
Prior to 2023, the Frenchman had never reached a quarterfinal at this level. On Thursday, he’ll play his fifth Challenger quarterfinal of the year. It’s still only June. That is a rather impressive ascent, and it makes perfect sense.
His game is well suited to clay, with a nice first serve, a strong forehand that can dictate play, enough consistency from the baseline to avoid being goaded into unforced errors on a consistent basis and the ability to switch things up with nasty spin and slide on his serves that can hit the dirt and slice away from his opposition.
As for Echargui, it’s hard to explain just how big of a mismatch this is for my money. Not only is his ranking about 70 spots lower (ranking alone can never be used as an indicator in a matchup), but his career is going the wrong way and he lacks any kind of weapons.
I see Echargui firmly entrenched as an ITF player at this stage of his career. He’s played sparingly at this level in 2023, and he has just one win that is remotely impressive – beating a red clay court specialist on the quicker green clay courts found in Florida. Many may point to his win in the second round against Thiago Monteiro, but that match looks an awful lot like a tank from the Brazilian. He won the first set and then just three games in the following two sets? Against a declining ITF player? The week before the biggest event the sport has to offer on a different surface? Let’s just say I’m not convinced.
This is as good of a chance as ever for Atmane to reach his first-ever Challenger Tour semifinal.
Terence Atmane vs Moez Echargui Best Bet
It’s wild to me that this mismatch in talent, form and matchup is only a 2.5-game handicap to me. Atmane is having the best season of his career, plays a very nice game and is much younger and on the ascent.
Echargui is at a huge disadvantage from the baseline, is 30 years old and outside the top 300, with a retirement in the last event he played prior to this one.
The market is seemingly unaware of Atmane’s talent and is certainly overvaluing Echargui’s win over Monteiro, who was either hurt or halfway to London by the time that match ended.
- Selection: Atmane -2.5 Games
- Best Odds: 1.92 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 6/10
- Bonus: Atmane -3 Games at 2.08 with Pinnacle, using 2/10 stakes.
Odds as at 4:00 am UK Time on June 29th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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