Karen Khachanov vs. Alex Molcan 5/18/22 Lyon Tennis Picks, Predictions, Odds

Karen Khachanov will meet Alex Molcan in the Round of 16 of the 2022 Lyon Open.

Karen Khachanov of Russia is the fifth seed here at the Lyon Open and will be hoping to put his poor 2022 season behind him with a strong result here. The Russian is one of the most explosive players on the ATP Tour but has found consistent results hard to come by this year. On the other end of the net, he will face the young Slovakian Alex Molcan who has been rising up the rankings with some impressive results. This seems like an interesting match, who will get the upper hand?

Karen Khachanov has had some good results this year such as reaching the Final in Adelaide and the Semis in Serbia, but also has had quite a run of poor losses. Since breaking into the top 10 a few years ago he has been terribly inconsistent at times, and has struggled to replicate his good form that he displayed early in his career. He seems to be in good form at the moment, reaching the Third Round at the Italian Open where he lost to eventual champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets. He then defeated Gilles Simon in the First Round here, to comfortably move into the Round of 16 here. He has a great opportunity to reach the Quarter-Finals here as his opponent Alex Molcan is not as experienced at this level, and he enters this match as the strong favorite.

Alex Molcan has been impressive over the past couple seasons after breaking through on this level. The Slovakian is a recent entrant into the ATP top 50 and he will be seeking to continue to rise up the charts. He has not had the best of luck lately, losing in the First Round of the Qualifying Events in both Madrid and Rome, and will hope to find form ahead of Roland Garros. Molcan defeated Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the First Round to set up this clash with the explosive Russian Karen Khachanov in the Round of 16. While his opponent is the favorite to win on paper, Molcan has had the better season and he will like his chances of causing the upset if he can stay consistent.

This is set to be a close battle, with both men struggling to find form at the moment. Karen Khachanov has much more experienced and is a former top 10 player, but he is not the player that he once was. Alex Molcan has been more consistent this year, and if he can remain solid throughout the match he can cause the Russian some problems. It won’t be easy, but I am expecting Khachanov to get the very close win. Molcan has been very impressive this year but Khachanov’s experience should prove decisive here, leading him to a close, three set victory.