Tennis
2026-02-17 - Marton Fucsovics vs Hady Habib
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : ATP Doha First Round
Tuesday 17th February 2025 - Scheduled 1:30pm
10:30am (British Time)
Preview
The swing through the Middle East is an opportunity for one or two players to pick up Wild Cards and try and use those to build up Ranking Points that can see them earn direct entry into other events on the Tour. In most cases those Wild Cards will be handed out to bigger names who may need them, but there are a couple of beneficiaries in Doha who perhaps are fortunate to be given this opportunity.
One of those is World Number 334 Hady Habib who at 27 years old reached his career best World Ranking mark of 159 last May.
Twelve months ago he received Wild Cards into both the tournaments in Doha and Dubai, but Hady Habib was beaten in opening matches each time.
Credit has to be given to the player for trying to bust his way through on the Tour, but Qualifying has proven too difficult at the bigger tournaments and Hady Habib has lost all three matches played on the hard courts in 2026 without winning a set. The real concern is that in five of the six sets he has dropped, Habib has failed to win more than three games and he has not faced anyone Ranked higher than World Number 143 in that time either.
The serve has been vulnerable in those early matches and Hady Habib has struggled to have any kind of real impact on the return.
Over the last twelve months on the Tour, the Lebanese player has put together a 3-14 record on the hard courts and he is 0-5 in matches against top 100 Ranked opponents. In those matches against the stronger players on the Tour, Hady Habib has struggled to make an impact with his serve, which has only increased the pressure on the return and it may be tough for him to compete with a veteran in the First Round here in Doha.
Marton Fucsovics suffered a really disappointing defeat in Rotterdam, but he was guilty of playing the Break Points poorly in that match.
The 34 year old has not served as well as he would have liked through the opening six weeks of the season, but Fucsovics continues to cause problems with his return. He is a comfortable player on the ground and over the last twelve months Marton Fucsovics has a winning record when facing opponents Ranked outside the top 50 of the World Rankings, while putting some strong numbers on the board.
This is not a player who is adverse to an upset, but Marton Fucsovics has won six of the ten matches played on the hard courts over the last twelve months when he has been the higher Ranked player going into the match.
He has held 88% of his service games played in the Tour matches, which do not include the two Davis Cup matches that were played under those conditions, while Marton Fucsovics has broken in 38% of return games.
As long as he is focused, you have to imagine the quality of tennis will find a way to shine through and Fucsovics can get the better of this awkward line in this best of three set First Round match in Doha.
Prediction
Lay the games with the veteran who has tended to play at a higher level compared with the Wild Card.
The Pick :
Marton Fucsovics 2-0 Hady Habib
