Acapulco Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Benoit Paire 3/16/21 Tennis Prediction

Top seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece will meet unseeded Frenchman Benoit Paire in the First Round of the 2021 Acapulco Open in Mexico. The match is scheduled to be played on Wednesday March 16th, 2021 at 9:20pm EST. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas started the 2021 season off with a bang, with a string of fantastic results. Most notably, he stunned Rafael Nadal in the Quarter-Finals of the 2021 Australian Open, coming back from two sets to love down to complete the thrilling victory. He has shown that he is finally ready to recognize his huge potential, and compete with the best players in the biggest tournaments. He will be eager to get his season back on track, after a shocking loss to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in Marseille. His aggressive game is perfectly suited to the hard courts here at the Acapulco Open and he is considered the favorite to lift the title here. 

Benoit Paire is currently ranked #29 in the ATP world rankings. Unlike his opponent, he has had a very poor start to the 2021 season. He has played six matches for the year, losing five of them, only winning four sets in total. His form has not been the only thing that has been poor, as he was sanctioned in Argentina for unsportsmanlike conduct and lack of effort. Paire has always been a very talented player, but those issues are the main reason why he hasn’t been able to reach his full potential. If he is fully focused then he is always a threat to the top players, but those types of performances are very rare these days. He will have been hoping that this tournament could be the turning point for his 2021 season, however he has been given a very difficult draw. 

The two players have played each other twice before, with the head to head series tied at one win apiece. This match will have only one result, and that is a comprehensive victory for Stefanos Tsitsipas. Benoit Paire is talented enough to cause the top players some trouble, however he has been in shockingly poor form this year, and it is unlikely that will change here. Expect the Greek star to dominate the match from the start, and advance to the Round of 16 without much difficulty.