ATP NICE FINAL – Gulbis vs Delbonis match prediction

The tournament in Nice is coming to a closure today. Ernests Gulbis from Latvia and the Argentine Federico Delbonis made it to the final. This will be the first match between these two players. As it always happens on pre-Grand Slam tournaments, there were not many top players participating.

On his way to the finals, Delbonis managed to defeat two higher ranked players, Gilles Simon and John Isner, while Gulbis, as second seeded, was a favorite in his part of the tournament.

Since this is their first match and we don’t have any statistical comparison points, it will be very hard to predict the outcome of the match. Gulbis is known as a player who can, on a good day, beat many tennis players who are normally incomparably better than him, but he’s also been known to disappoint those who cheer for him, since he’s been defeated by many lower ranked players before.

On the other hand, Delbonis has, up to recently, mostly played the Challenger Tour, so he is not consistent on this higher level of championships, being inexperienced. Before this tournament, he was defeated five times in his last six ATP matches, so getting to the finals in the first place is a pleasant surprise both for him and his fans.

Speaking of the characteristics of both of the players, the biggest strength of each is their strong forehand stroke. But that’s where the similarities end – Delbonis is a typical clay court player, who is likely to use his forehand to dictate the rallies, forcing his opponent to hit an erroneous blow. On the other hand, Gulbis is surely the more versatile player, and it is expected that his strokes are the ones which will determine the outcome of every point. He’s also achieved a solid striking form this week, and if he remains on the same level in the finals, Delbonis will find it difficult to outmatch him.

With all this in mind, it is expected that Gulbis will win the match and the title, seeing how he has a perfect record in ATP tour finals – he’s won five out of five times. This is the third final for Delbonis – he’s won one title so far, and it happened this year in Brazil. However, since Roland Garros is creeping nearer, it is possible that whoever loses the first set will give away the other one easily as well, seeing how everyone wants to conserve their strength for the Grand Slam, and Gulbis is no exception.