tennis | Monday, February 6, 2023 8:29 AM (Revised at: Monday, February 6, 2023 9:01 AM)

Monday Tennis Best Bet: ATP Cordoba, Luciano Darderi vs Hugo Gaston

Jon Reid

Luciano Darderi vs Hugo Gaston Best Bet: Monday, February 6th

An impressive choke from Alexandre Muller sank Friday’s larger-stakes selection, as Muller lost outright, despite having led by a break of serve twice in the first set and then 4-1 in the third. He won neither of them and found himself bounced from the event.

For the coming week, we have a trio of ATP 250 events to look at when picking our bets each day. For Monday, we’ll take a look at the match between Luciano Darderi and Hugo Gaston from the first clay-court event of the year in Cordoba, Argentina!

In this article:

Luciano Darderi vs Hugo Gaston Preview
Luciano Darderi vs Hugo Gaston Best Bet

Luciano Darderi vs Hugo Gaston Preview

February 6th, 23:00 (UK Time)

What an incredible opportunity for the young Italian, as he draws an extremely out-of-form Gaston in his main draw debut. It’s a spot the 20-year-old earned, beating a pair of savvy clay courters in Yannick Hanfmann and Juan Pablo Ficovich – both in straight sets, no less – to do so.

After getting to South America and acclimating himself at the Concepcion Challenger (he lost in a strong effort against Alejandro Tabilo, while facing a hostile crowd), Darderi is looking to build on his successful trip in Cordoba.

The slight altitude of about 400 metres does not seem to be bothering him, and he’s actually managed to take advantage of the slightly thinner air, getting a bit more pop on his shots, while still using his athleticism to work his way into games on return.

Now taking on a southpaw, who is a far more defensive-minded player, Darderi has a strong chance to pick up his third consecutive straight-sets win. Consider the fact that Gaston has been poor in 2023, hasn’t played on clay yet this year and retired injured in his last match in Australia and the stars seem to be aligned for the young Italian.

What’s more, Gaston was terrible last season on the dirt (albeit playing regularly at tour level), losing a lot by wide margins.

Darderi’s play is also rather consistent from the baseline, meaning a big part of Gaston’s game of waiting for unforced errors may not be particularly effective here.

Luciano Darderi vs Hugo Gaston Best Bet

Whether it’s questions regarding injury and fitness, matchup or form, Darderi feels like the player to back in this contest.

His elo rating may not hold up to that of Gaston, but most of that is simply because of the quality of opposition played, not the actual win-loss records. When we put that number into context with form and how they’ve looked of late, Darderi looks far more impressive than the Frenchman.