Tokyo 2020: Marin Cilic vs. Pablo Carreno Busta 7/26/21 Tennis Prediction

Marin Cilic meets Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round of Tokyo 2020 on Monday, July 26th, 2021.

Who will come out in probably what will be the most entertaining match of the day here in Tokyo between the two experienced opponents of Pablo Carreno Busta and Marin Cilic? Will it be the former US Open champion or the recent Hamburg Open champion to get to the third round?

Pablo Carreno Busta eased his way through his first round match, beating Tennys Sandgren quite easily in 2 sets 7-5/6-2. Pablo has definitely brought the momentum over from the Hamburg Open where he won his biggest career title just 2 weeks ago, and he will know that if he continues to get these wins going, he can definitely have a solid US hard court season in August. Pablo is one of the most underrated players in my opinion because he has such a solid and consistent game but is not recognised amongst the likes of Roberto Bautista Agut who are similar to him.

Marin Cilic had a bit of a tougher first round match, losing the first set against Joao Menezes and having to win the next two sets to win the match in 3 sets 6-7/7-5/7-6. Marin Cilic should not be playing such tight matches and he should be winning them easily and getting himself better prepared for tougher opponents down the line. We all know that Marin can play at a very high level as he showed us on grass this year, but if he wants to have a good August swing in the US, he needs to find some momentum here in Tokyo.

This is going to be the 5^th meeting between both players, with Marin Cilic having won all of their 4 prior encounters. Although the head to head has been in Marin’s favour throughout the years, things have changed. Marin is much more inconsistent than he used to be, taking him longer to find his rhythm on surfaces, whilst Pablo Carreno Busta has been Mr. Consistent this year on the ATP Tour. I expect it to be tight because both players know how the other one plays, but will Pablo will make his way to the third round in Tokyo.