Nicolas Massu returns to his homeland Chile tonight to take on Caio Zampieri in what looks to be one of the weakest ATP tour main draw matchups you are likely to see this year.
The 31 year old Chilean has had success in his own backyard in past years, reaching the final in Vina Del Mar twice back in 06 and 07. But that must seem light years away from his current predicament which has seen his form and subsequently his ranking slide dramatically in recent years.
His form last year in main draw ATP and Grand Slam events was a miserable 4-11. And although that makes poor reading, he can take solace in the fact that his opponent tonight will be appearing in only his second ever ATP main draw match. His previous effort ending in defeat two years ago to the Italian Fabio Fognini. That means he did not appear in a single main draw event last year so although Massu's record has been poor over the last year it is still far brighter than his opponents tonight.
With the Chilean vastly more experienced he should be extremely pleased that he has landed a very winnable first round match, and with him playing infront of a home crowd(albeit possibly a very small one) I feel there is a small amount of value on a sufficiently motivated Massu tonight condemning the Brazilian to a second straight ATP main draw defeat.
Massu to bt Zampieri 1pt win @ 13/14 (Unibet)
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