Analysis for Mahut-Gabashvili (Paris)

Head-to-head record 0:0

Nicolas Mahut of France will fight Teimuraz Gabashvili of Georgia. There is no doubt that Mahut is a better player than his Georgian opponent but Gabashvili´s run in qualifiers is at least worth mentioning. We don´t think that Gabashvili is a player with big talent and he will probably never make any remarkable successes but from time to time, he is able to surprise and defeat better ranked players. His best YTD result comes from US Open where he beat 7th seed Fernando Gonzalez in five sets: 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 5-7, 6-4. In the fourth set Gabashivili served for the match at 5-4 but hit three consecutive double faults. He lost the game and the set, but came back in the fifth and final set to win the match. He was struggling after that performance but showed some signs of improvement in Paris qualifiers. He prefers fast surfaces and his weakest point is probably his movement. His opponent, Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, has had a solid season so far but his last match in Lyon was disastrous. He lost pure claycourter Diego Hartfield in front of his home crowd and didn´t look confident at all. He prefers fast indoor surfaces but seems to be out of form currently and odds on Georgian qualifiers are attractive in the light of these facts. We think that odds above 2.7 could be worth trying for a small stake.