Thursday’s Tennis Betting Tips: Lehecka set for further Hamburg progress

The build-up to the upcoming French Open ramps up another notch with ATP Tour events taking place in Hamburg and Geneva as well as WTA Tour tournaments coming from Strasbourg and Rabat.

Those clay-court competitions have reached the quarter-final stage and there are plenty of elite players on show hoping to give themselves a confidence enhancement ahead of the second Grand Slam of the season at Roland Garros.

Tennis Odds

Jiri Lehecka to win 2-0 vs Tomas Martin Etcheverry @ 13/10

Having defeated world number 18 Francisco Cerundolo 7-5 6-2 in the previous round, Jiri Lehecka can seal a semi-final spot in Hamburg with a routine victory over another Argentinian player in Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Given the form that Cerundolo has been in during this clay-court campaign, that last-16 victory reads extremely well for Lehecka and suggested that the world number 37 was finding his A-game at the perfect time.

Lehecka would be at his best on a quicker surface but a semi-final run in Madrid last season shows that slower terrain poses no problems for him and he did get the better of Etcheverry 6-1 6-3 in their only previous clay-court meeting in Gstaad a couple of seasons ago.

The 23-year-old is a former Grand Slam quarter-finalist, as well as being a two-time winner on the ATP Tour, and has far more natural ability than his opponent, who is 18 places inferior in the world rankings.

Liudmila Samsonova to beat Paula Badosa @ 6/5

Paula Badosa has made the quarter-final in Strasbourg despite not completing a set, with last-16 rival Marie Bouzkova being forced to withdraw when the pair were locked at 3-3 in their opener, and that could give Liudmila Samsonova an advantage as she is fighting fit.

That means Badosa hasn’t completed a match since the Miami Open in March and she has plenty to prove against Samsonova, who was a semi-finalist in Strasbourg last season.

The Russian has impressed in straight-set victories over Linda Noskova and home hope Diane Parry in France and, having won her two completed matches with Badosa, she may be able to belie her underdog status to reach the final four again.

Emma Navarro to win 2-0 vs Beatriz Haddad Maia @ 4/5

American world number nine Emma Navarro has not had the best of seasons but she remains one of the WTA Tour’s class acts and this tournament in Strasbourg could transform her fortunes.

Navarro made light work of Anna Blinkova in her opener, easing to a 6-4 6-1 success, and she could book her place in the last four with an equally comfortable victory over the inconsistent Beatriz Haddad Maia.

These two met on the clay in Stuttgart in the middle of April and Navarro stamped her authority in a 6-3 6-0 win, suggesting she could do likewise under similar conditions with the Brazilian becoming increasingly difficult to predict.

Tennis Betting Tips from Betfred Insights.