Great Ocean Road Open: Andreas Seppi vs. Salvatore Caruso Tennis Prediction

It is a battle of the Italians in the first round of the 2021 Great Ocean Road Open as Salvatore Caruso meets Andreas Seppi on Monday, February 1st 2021. Will it be the experienced veteran of the tennis world, Andreas Seppi, or the in form Salvatore Caruso to make it to the second round?

Andreas Seppi is one of the most experienced players on the ATP Tour, having played on the tour for 19 years. Seppi, however, over the last few years has continuously gone down in the rankings due to lack of consistency, play, and ability to win matches. Seppi now sits at 106th in the rankings, and I imagine 2021 is going to be his last year on the tour, if not his second to last. Will Andreas Seppi shock us all here at the Great Ocean Road Open, or perhaps even in 2021, with some positive victories, or will he keep scaling down the rankings?

Salvatore Caruso has been making somewhat of a name for himself in the last year or so, putting on some solid performances in many tournaments, most recently at the 2020 Paris Masters 1000 when he put on a show against Corentin Moutet. Caruso is a very fast mover around the court, and 10 years into his professional career, he finally seems to be making some progress on the ATP Tour. Caruso will want to make 2021 the year where he becomes a mainstay player in these sorts of ATP Tour tournaments, and moves away from the Challenger Tour.

This is going to be the second meeting between these two players, with Andreas Seppi leading the head to head 1-0. The last time they met was in 2017, where Andreas Seppi won in 3 tight sets. Since then, their careers have gone in opposite directions. Seppi has continuously progressed lower in his ranking, whilst Caruso has continued to rise. I would expect Salvatore Caruso to get his revenge here against his fellow Italian as he is now the much better player, and is in much better form. Salvatore Caruso to win and progress to the second round.