Generali Open Odds: Bautista Agut, the Player to Beat

Rare Repeat Champions in Kitzbuhel Clay Court Event

While the focus is turning to the North American hardcourt season, not all the players are in the United States just yet. Defending champion Roberto Bautista Agut is a player to keep an eye on when looking at the Generali Open odds while 2019 champion Dominic Thiem is another player to keep an eye out for.

Many of the players in the field are playing in either Hamburg or Croatia, two other events on clay so it will be worth seeing if any momentum can be carried into this event.

The tournament is hoping for better luck than a year ago when the top two seeds withdrew and just five of the top 10 seeds made it to the second round.

Thiem and Filip Misolic were the first two players to receive wild cards into the 28-player tournament as they will add two more Austrian players in a tournament that was first played in 1894 and was held in Kitzbuhel for the first time in 1959. During the Open era, the tournament has been held in Kitzbuhel every year. When looking at tennis scores, six of the last 12 finals in Kitzbuhel have gone the distance.

The main draw is set to start on Sunday for the 28-player field with the top four seeds receiving byes into the second round.

Eyeing A Repeat

There hasn’t been a repeat champion in the tournament since Robin Haase won three-set finals against Albert Montanes in 20211 and Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2012. Before that, Albert Costa was the last repeat champion as he took the title in 1998 and 1999. That came during a stretch when players from Spain won six of eight titles in Kitzbuhel.

That is what is at stake for Bautista Agut and adding to the pressure, he is likely to enter the tournament as the top seed as he is currently ranked 25th.

Since reaching the semifinals in Halle with a win over Daniil Medvedev, he has lost in the first round in back-to-back tournaments to players ranked 92nd and 90th. Keep that in mind when looking at the Generali Open odds.

Etcheverry Tries to Reclaim His Form

Tomas Martin Etcheverry opened a few eyes when he eliminated top 20 ranked players Alex de Minaur and Borna Coric to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open. When it comes to the Generali Open odds, can he reclaim some of the clay-court magic?

Etcheverry hasn’t won back-to-back matches since. He did reach the finals in the clay-court events at Santiago, Houston, and Bordeaux.

Thiem Ready for Home Cooking

Dominic Thiem will always be remembered for his run to the 2022 US Open title when he dropped just one set before rallying from two sets down to top Alexander Zverev in a fifth-set tiebreaker for his lone Grand Slam singles title.

Thiem also reached two French Open finals, played for the Australian Open title in 2020, and was in the Tour Final title match in both 2019 and 2020. However, he recently dropped out of the top 100 and needed a wild card to get into the field. Still, the local fans will be checking out the tennis betting odds when it comes to one of Austria’s best tennis talents.

Thiem was the first player from Austria to win the tournament since Thomas Muster in 1993. Thiem played in Kitzbuhel nine times from 2010-2019 culminating in winning the title in 2019. He returned in 2022 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Thiem lost in a fifth-set tiebreaker to fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening match at Wimbledon and also lost in five sets in his first match at the French Open.

No Lack of Top-50 Players

There are other contenders to keep an eye on with Miomir Kecmanovic, who moved up four spots to No. 40, No. 43 Lorenzo Sonego, No. 44 Botic van de Zandschulp, No. 45 Yannick Hanfmann and Pedro Cachin, who went from 90th to 49th after winning the title in Gstaad, are the other players in the top 50 currently in the field. It could make for some unpredictable tennis results in the last clay-court event on the 2023 ATP calendar.

Sebastian Ofner moved up six spots to No. 52 and is the top-ranked player from Austria. Ofner is also set to play doubles with Thiem in the tournament. Ofner just lost in the second round in Croatia.

When looking at some recent tennis results, Kecmanovic, Etcheverry, and Cachin all lost in the first round in Hamburg.

An Eye on the Future

One of the rising stars in Austria is Misolic as the 21-year-old worked his way through qualifying to post two main-draw wins and reach the quarterfinals at Bastad before falling in three sets to Lorenzo Musetti.

He reached the finals at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Mauthausen and won the first set before falling in three sets to Hamad Medjedovic. He won the Challenger event in Roseto Degli Abruzzi, in Arul.

Misolic displayed some of his potential with a pair of wins over top-100 players to reach the finals at last year’s Kitzbuhel tournament.

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