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Match Details
Fixture: (7) Andrey Rublev vs (Q) Facundo Bagnis
Date: April 26, 2024
Tournament: Mutua Madrid Open
Round: Second Round (Round of 64)
Venue: La Caja Majica, Madrid, Spain
Category: Masters 1000
Surface: Clay
Prize Money: €7,877,020
Live Telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN+
Andrey Rublev vs Facundo Bagnis preview
After a first-round bye, seventh seed Andrey Rublev will take on Facundo Bagnis in the second round of the 2024 Madrid Open on Friday.
Rublev captured his 15th career title at the Hong Kong Open to start the new season. He then made it to the last eight of his next three tournaments, including the Australian Open.
Rublev finally went a step further in Dubai, where he reached the semifinals. However, he was disqualified from the tournament towards the end of his match against Alexander Bublik due to unsportsmanlike conduct.
Rublev suffered his first early loss of the season after that as he was knocked out in the third round of the Indian Wells Masters. He hasn't won a match since his exit from the California desert. He's currently on a four-match losing streak.
Bagnis fought his way through the qualifying rounds to secure his place in the main draw of the Madrid Open. He was then drawn against Brandon Nakashima in the first round.
Bagnis constantly put Nakashima under pressure during his service games early on in the first set. His persistence was rewarded with a break of serve in the sixth game to go 4-2 up. He held on to the lead and soon claimed the set to put himself in a commanding position.
Neither player managed to secure a break in the second set, though Nakashima did hold three set points on Bagnis' serve at 5-4. He failed to convert those which proved costly as the Argentine gained the upper hand in the ensuing tie-break to win the match 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Andrey Rublev vs Facundo Bagnis head-to-head
Rublev leads Bagnis 1-0 in the head-to-head. He won their previous encounter at the 2020 Italian Open in straight sets.
Andrey Rublev vs Facundo Bagnis odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Andrey Rublev vs Facundo Bagnis prediction
Bagnis played a pretty solid match to get the better of Nakashima in the previous round. He didn't lose his serve even once and struck 22 winners against 19 unforced errors. It marked just his fifth win of the season.
Rublev doesn't seem to have completely recovered from the disqualification in Dubai. His results have taken a nosedive since then and his losing streak has carried on to clay as well. The Russian's four-match losing streak has seen him go down in straight sets in all of his defeats.
Bagnis is a clay-court specialist, so given Rublev's poor string of results, another early exit is quite possible. The Russian already lost to a player ranked outside the top 100 earlier this year.
Bagnis has a good track record on clay and even reached the final of the Cordoba Open in February. However, he hasn't done much on the ATP Tour aside from that. This seems like Rublev's best chance to snap his losing skid, otherwise, it'll be an uphill battle for him to regroup from this loss of momentum.
Pick: Andrey Rublev to win in straight sets.
