Denis Istomin v Lukas Lacko
Tennis: Croatia, ATP Zagreb, Singles 2010
Tuesday, 2nd February 2010 - Start 12:15 GMT

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Preview

Denis Istomin is in the top 100 of the World at Number 91, and he will be looking to build on a decent Australian Open to continue his rise up the rankings.

Istomin did not have the best starts to this new season with a comprehensive defeat to Dudi Sela in Chennai, but did follow that up with a 3rd round appearance at the Australian Open before being completely outplayed by Novak Djokovic.

He did not have the best season on the indoor hard courts last year, finishing with a 7-10 record, and was only 3-5 in main tour matches. His best performance on the surface was reaching the 3rd round in St Petersburg.

The season before last saw Istomin go 11-6 on indoor hard courts.

Lukas Lacko is ranked at number 72 in the World Rankings and has made a solid start to the new season, going 3-2. He reached the 2nd round in Australia before crashing out to Rafael Nadal in straight sets.

The Slovakian had his best season on the indoor hard courts last season, going 12-4 on the surface, 2-1 on the main ATP tour. He played here in Zagreb last season and lost a tight 1st round encounter to Mario Ancic in 3 sets. Lacko's best result on the indoor hard courts was reaching the Semi Final of a Challenger event towards the end of season in his own country.

Head to Head

Denis Istomin owns a 2-0 lead in the head to head with Lukas Lacko. Both of these matches took place on hard courts, the last being in October 2009 where Istomin won in straight sets.

They have also met in a Grand Slam, Istomin winning in 4 sets at the Australian Open in 2008.

Prediction

Both of these players have decent games, with Istomin relying on heavy groundstrokes and serve to keep his opponent off balance.

Lacko has struggled against those players ranked in the top 100 on this type of surface and I can see this happening again.

I will play Denis Istomin to win this match.

The Pick :

Denis Istomin 7-6, 6-4

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Denis Istomin WIN @ 2.05 (Pinnacle)