Basilashvili vs Zverev: ATP Montreal Prediction

With Kyrgios exiting the tournament so early yesterday vs Edmund that snapped my 4 prediction winning streak. It was disappointing to see him bow out so early and against an opponent I felt was there for the taking yesterday. Whilst some may say he was still tired from the Washington final I think thats too much a convenient excuse.

Source - Getty Images - Basilashvili Defends His Title Successfully in Hamburg

Today sees a repeat of the Semi Final in Hamburg where last month Basilashvili successfully defended his title not just upsetting the home favourite in the semis (Zverev) but then going on to defeat Rublev in the final.

There's no doubt Zverev will see this as a crux match to prove to himself he's finally turned the corner on his poor form. Having lost to Basilashvili narrowly in a third set tie break he will want to win more cleanly here in straight sets rather than get bogged down in dogfight.

With Montreal being a hard court tournament this surface will suit Basilashvili more than Zverev as the Georgian hits the ball really hard and flat. This means his odds of 3.00 to win today are very generous and that's where my prediction will go.

Basilashvili has already overcome two tough opponents in Montreal and that will give him encouragement on top of his title defense at Hamburg. He has continued his momentum going into this tournament beating Lajovic and Struff. His victory over Struff was particularly significant given Struff's current form and serving power. Basilashvili was the underdog in that match too.

For me Zverev didn't convince me with his Hamburg run to the semis. It was a rather clumsy path where he struggled to exercise any dominance over his opponents.

While Basilashvili had questionable form before Hamburg and the calibre of his opponents in Germany weren't exactly top ten players apart from Zverev himself, Zverev lost to plus 100 ranked Vesely 3-1 at Wimbledon in the first round, on home soil again against Dustin Brown (170th) in the Stuttgart 500 event, Jarry in Barcelona (81st) and I could go on this year.

I am not convinced he can turn the corner this year and get back to winning ways and think he faces another possible early exit in Montreal.