BNP Paribas Open: Lorenzo Musetti vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas 10/07/21 Tennis Prediction

Up-and-coming youngster, Lorenzo Musetti, meets the very experienced Spaniard, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, October 7th, 2021.

Will we see a good start to the tournament from the up and coming Italian, Lorenzo Musetti, as he aims to continue making a name for himself, or will Albert Ramos-Vinolas show us why he has been so consistent for so many years on the ATP Tour?

Albert Ramos-Vinolas has not been at his best in the last few months, losing quite early in tournaments week after week. However, this is not something which should be looked into too much as he is playing on hard courts when his best game is always found on clay courts. Albert has a great overall game, but the thing which has stood him back in his career is that he does not have one huge attribute to his game. On clay, this does not matter as much because he has a great return game and is able to stay in long rallies with his stamina, but on hard courts, matches and points are won with winners rather than unforced errors.

Lorenzo Musetti is hitting a bit of a rough patch over the last few months, going 1-4 W/L in all of his matches in north American hard court conditions, which is very different to how he started the year, playing out of this world and nearly beating big names like Novak Djokovic. The Italian knows he can play well in these hard court conditions, but he just needs to find his mojo again to make sure he continues to rise up the rankings and keeps himself in the race for the NextGen ATP Finals.

This is the first meeting here and it is going to be a great battle of the generations. Both players are solid on their day, but they have struggled in the last few months. If this was on clay, I would give Albert a slight edge due to his experience. However, when we are looking at hard courts, Lorenzo just needs a good win under his belt to get things going again, and he has beaten top 10 players in these similar conditions before.