Eleventh seeded David Goffin of Belgium will face Italian Marco Cecchinato in the SEcond Round of the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters in Monaco. The match is scheduled to be played on Wednesday April 14th, 2021 at 6:20am EST.
This is sure to be an entertaining match between two ATP Tour veterans. Will David Goffin advance to the Round of 16 as expected? Or can the Italian veteran cause the upset here in Monaco?
David Goffin is currently ranked #15 in the world and has been having a very inconsistent 2021 season. He won the title in Lyon, but otherwise has largely failed to live up to his lofty expectations. He will be desperate to put in a strong performance here at the 2021 Monte-Carlo Open to jump-start his season. A former Semi-Finalist here, he has the game to succeed on clay with a very solid baseline game from both sides and good movement. While he enters this match as the favorite, his opponent Marco Cecchinato has been impressive so far here in Monaco and cannot be taken lightly.
Marco Cecchinato is currently ranked #92 in the world, a far cry from his career-high of #16. Once considered one of the top clay players in his prime, he has largely been unsuccessful over the past few seasons. Despite his inconsistent form, he has looked good so far here, coming through the qualifying rounds easily before defeating Dominik Koepfer in the First Round. His game is tailor made for this surface and if Goffin is not at his best, he is more than capable or pushing him to the limit. Cecchinato has not had a deep run at a big event in quite some time, so he starts this match as the clear under dog.
While this looks easy to predict on paper, that is not necessarily the case. David Goffin is much higher ranked but has had a poor run of form, and is playing against a very competent opponent. Despite this, I am going with Goffin to get the win. He may start slowly but likely has too much firepower for the Italian to handle. David Goffin to win and advance to the Round of 16 here in Monaco.