Nordea Open: Pablo Cuevas vs. Norbert Gombos 7/12/21 Tennis Prediction

Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay will face Slovakian Norbert Gombos in the First Round of the 2021 Nordea Open. The match is scheduled to be played on Monday July 12th, 2021 at a time yet to be determined.

This is an interesting First Round match between the two ATP Tour veterans, both of whom are relatively close in the rankings. Pablo Cuevas is a former top 20 player that has been on the decline over the past few years. Norbert Gombos has always been a very solid player but has never quite reached the heights of his more well-known opponent. Who will get the win here and advance to the Round of 16 here in Bastad?

Pablo Cuevas is currently ranked #84 in the world and is unseeded here at the 2021 Nordea Open. The Uruguayan was once ranked as high as #19 on the ATP Tour, but has struggled over the past few years as he approaches the end of his career. He has six titles on clay, proving how dangerous he is on the surface, including winning the title here in Bastad in 2014. While he has been disappointing on the ATP Tour, he has had some solid results on the Challenger Tour and is still capable of good tennis, although he hasn’t been able to sustain it for prolonged periods. He will be hoping that returning to a place that he has had success will be able to jump-start his career, as he seeks to have a productive final few seasons on the Tour.

Norbert Gombos is currently ranked #94 in the world, 10 spots behind his First Round opponent Pablo Cuevas. While he has never had much success on the ATP Tour he has been outstanding on the Challenger Tour, with five titles on clay. Like Cuevas, he has been struggling lately, and the highlight of his 2021 seasons so far has been a Semi-Final appearance in a Challenger in the Czech Republic. He enters this match as the underdog, but knows that his opponent also hasn’t been at his best, and he is capable of causing the Uruguayan some trouble here.

This is the first time that the two have played each other, and it is a tough one to call due to them both having some recent struggles. I am going with Pablo Cuevas to win here, as he has the higher upside and has achieved more throughout his career. He really hasn’t displayed much quality recently, but neither has Norbert Gombos, so in this sort of situation I tend to go with the more experienced player, and that is clearly Cuevas. Gombos can keep it competitive, but he will fall short here.