Tennis
2026-02-17 - Moez Echargui vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
Tennis : ATP Doha First Round
Tuesday 17th February 2025 - Scheduled 1:30pm
10:30am (British Time)
Preview
The first thing that has to be stated is that Stefanos Tsitsipas is not an easy player to trust when it comes to a spread that could need as many as three Breaks of serve to have any chance of earning a cover.
However, he is facing a Wild Card in the First Round and an opponent who has not had a lot of experience facing players at the very top of the Tour.
Moez Echargui is the World Number 139 and the 33 year old was a few places higher in December, which is the career best mark.
Suffice to say, Echargui has to find some considerable levels to get the better of Stefanos Tsitisipas.
Over the last twelve months, Moez Echargui has put up plenty of wins on the hard courts, but those have been below the main Tour and against players of similar Ranking or lower. That is far from the case when playing in the ATP 500 event in Doha and Moez Echargui lost both matches against top 100 Ranked opponents pretty comfortably in that time period.
Even throughout his career, Echargui is 0-4 against top 100 Ranked opponents on the surface and his serve has been a huge issue for him, which is something that even a limited return player like Stefanos Tsitsipas should be able to exploit against a player who is considerably below the level he is normally used to facing.
However, one of the big disappointments for Stefanos Tsitsipas is that he is only 7-7 when facing players Ranked outside the top 50 on the hard courts over the last twelve months. That record becomes much better when only noting the matches against players Ranked outside the top 100, where Tsitsipas is 5-0, although the hope for the underdog in this one is that those wins have not always been as convincing as they perhaps should have been.
Even then, the World Number 33 is expected to be a little too good as long as he remains focused.
He should be afforded enough Break Points to get into a position to cover this mark and Stefanos Tsitsipas is not expected to have slipped so much that Moez Echargui can make this competitive for more than a set.
Prediction
Money has to talk outside of the Grand Slams and Masters events and the ATP 500 event in Doha has the top two players on the Tour bookending the draw.
Fans may be hoping for another Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner Final, but there are big Ranking Points on offer for others and Stefanos Tsitsipas can win this match with room to spare as he continues searching for a way back towards the top ten.
The Pick :
Moez Echargui 0-2 Stefanos Tsitsipas
