Prague Challenger 2020: Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs Tallon Griekspoor preview, head-to-head & prediction

Pierre-Hugues Herbert entered the 2020 Prague Challenger as one of the star attractions. And with so many of the high-profile players falling by the wayside, the Frenchman is now the only top 4 seed remaining along with tournament favorite Stan Wawrinka.

In his first round match, Herbert struggled with service niggles against World No. 432 Jonas Forejtek before eventually winning in three sets. His next win, in the Round of 16 over Zdenek Kolar, was not smooth sailing either as the Frenchman was again pushed to a deciding set.

Herbert will now take on World No. 190 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands for a place in the semifinals of the Challenger event.

Griekspoor has enjoyed a rich vein of form this week, which has earned him wins over multiple strong opponents. The Dutchman will likely pose a stiff challenge to Herbert in their quarterfinal match on Thursday.

In his opening round match, Griekspoor beat Andrey Kuznetsov - a player once ranked as high as 39th in the world. The Dutchman followed that up with upsets of the 11th seeded Kimmer Coppejans and the 8th seeded Jozef Kovalik, both of whom are Challenger mainstays.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert has had a modest 2020 tour campaign, with an overall W-L record of 13-8. His rousing victory over World No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime at Montpellier has been the highlight of his season so far.

Herbert's opponent boasts of similar form this year, having compiled an overall W-L record of 9-3.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs Tallon Griekspoor head-to-head

This will be the first ever meeting between Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Tallon Griekspoor. The pair have never met before either on the ATP tour or the ATP Challenger circuit.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs Tallon Griekspoor prediction

Pierre-Hugues Herbert was going through a bad patch coming into this tournament - as evidenced by his three-match losing streak at the Challenge Elite Exhibition organized by the French Federation of Tennis. That is why his talented 24-year-old opponent, who famously upset three-time Major champion Stan Wawrinka at the 2018 Rotterdam Open, would fancy his chances of causing an upset on Thursday.

Herbert played a shaky match against Kolar before reaching the quarterfinals, never holding serve comfortably in the deciding set. The Frenchman's experience helped him get through the match eventually, and he would need to summon that kind of composure again if he hopes to get past Griekspoor.

The former World No. 36 had some good results on clay last year, most notably his comeback from two-sets-to-love down to beat Daniil Medvedev at the French Open. But for most of his career Herbert has struggled on the surface, and the Dutchman could very well exploit that.

Prediction: Tallon Griekspoor to win in three sets.