Rio Open & Marseille Open predictions and tennis betting tips: Baez could cause a stir in Brazil

Where to watch

Rio Open
Amazon Prime Video from 5pm Monday

Dubai Tennis Championships
Amazon Prime Video from 8am Monday

Best bets

Sebastian Baez to win Rio Open
1pt 10-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Hubert Hurkacz to win Marseille Open
1pt 6-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Elena Rybakina to win 2-0 v Bianca Andreescu
1pt 5-6 bet365

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Tournament previews

It is a jam-packed week on the ATP Tour with clay-court action in Rio de Janeiro and hard-court events taking place in  Doha and Marseille.

Carlos Alcaraz and Cameron Norrie were two of the most eye-catching names in the initial draw for the Rio Open in Brazil but the pair were in action in the Buenos Aires Open final on Sunday and there may be value to be had lower down in the betting.

Last year's Rio Open runner-up Diego Schwartzman is among a handful of Argentinians set to take to the Jockey Club Brasileiro courts this week but his compatriot Sebastian Baez could be the more interesting outright selection for the event.

Baez was underwhelming on his home turf in Buenos Aires last week, crashing out in the first round against Dusan Lajovic, but he has impressed on clay already this year, winning the Cordoba Open this month.

The 22-year-old is still finding his feet on the ATP Tour but, seeded sixth, he has been handed a soft start in Rio with wildcard entry Thomas Bellucci his opponent in the first round and either Juan Pablo Varillas or qualifier Hugo Gaston awaiting him in the second.

The European circuit, meanwhile, continues on Monday with the start of the Open 13 in Marseille and among a handful of players who could go deep, Hubert Hurkacz looks a decent outright option.

Having been dumped out of the Rotterdam Open last Wednesday, Hurkacz should be pretty fresh for this event and was looking promising at the Australian Open last month.

The Pole looked in good spirits on his way to the fourth round in Melbourne, losing a match which could have swung either way against plucky American Sebastian Korda, and he will be eager to claim his first tour title since Halle last June.

He heads to the south of France with a 6-4 record for the year and as top seed, will start his campaign in the round of 16.

The first round of the WTA Dubai also continues on Monday and Elena Rybakina should have too much in her locker for unseeded Canadian Bianca Andreescu, who has lost each of her last two matches on hard courts.

Rybakina dazzled on the hard courts at the Australian Open last month, advancing to the final in which she pushed Aryna Sabalenka close in a 2-1 defeat, and she also looked handy at the Abu Dhabi Open, storming past Karolina Pliskova before defeat in the quarter-finals. 

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