Prediction Of Engel Vs Cerundolo H2H, Who Will Win At ATP Almaty Open 2024?

What Time Will Justin Engel Play Against Francisco Cerundolo?

Engel and Cerundolo are on the Day 3 Schedule at Almaty Open 2024 on Wednesday 16 October 2024. Lets breakdown the career, past stats and recent form of these players and predict who will get the victory.

Who Will Win In This Head-To-Head?

[WC] Justin Engel from Germany, who is 17 years old and currently ranked No. 458 in the world, will be facing Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina, who is ranked No. 31. This will be their first meeting.

Engel started the 2024 season ranked No. 1344 but made significant progress, breaking into the top 800 in July, and reaching a career-high ranking of No. 458 in October. He achieved this after reaching the quarter-finals of the Villena Challenger, becoming the youngest player to enter the Top 500.

Engel made his ATP Tour debut as a 17-year-old wildcard entry at the 2024 Almaty tournament. In his first-round match, he defeated his opponent Wong, becoming the youngest German male player to win a tour-level match since Boris Becker achieved the same feat at the 1984 Australian Open when he was also 17 years old.

During the 2024 season, Engel has performed exceptionally well in ITF Tour events, with a record of 25-6, including four victories in finals. He won titles at the M15 Villach, M15 Uslar, M15 Trier, and M15 Cap d’Agde tournaments. In February, he reached a career-high ranking of No. 56 in the ITF juniors, winning two titles and qualifying for the main draw of the Australian Open boys’ singles.

It is important to note that Engel’s victory over Wong in the first round of the Almaty tournament made him the first player born in 2007 or later to win an ATP Tour match. In his upcoming match against a Top 100 player in Cerundolo, Engel will aim for the biggest win of his career and to become the youngest player to reach an ATP Tour quarter-final since Lleyton Hewitt accomplished the feat at the age of 16 in the 1998 Adelaide tournament.

Looking at the history of the youngest quarter-finalists in ATP Tour history since 1990, Engel, starting the tournament at the age of 17 years and 13 days, would become the fourth youngest player to reach the quarter-finals. The current record holders are Michal Tabara at 16 years and 7 months in the 1996 Prague tournament, Lleyton Hewitt at 16 years and 10 months in the 1998 Adelaide tournament, Andrei Medvedev at 17 years and 9 days in the 1991 Geneva tournament, and Rafael Nadal at 17 years and 1 month in the 2003 Bastad and 2003 Umag tournaments.

On the other side, Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina, who is 26 years old and ranked No. 31 in the world, aims to reach his 21st ATP Tour quarter-final. In 2022, he broke into the top 100 and set a new career-high ranking 11 times. In June 2023, he reached his highest ranking of No. 19, shortly after reaching the fourth round of the 2023 Roland Garros, defeating No. 8 Taylor Fritz in the third round.

Cerundolo’s notable achievements include reaching the top 25 after defeating No. 5 Casper Ruud on his way to winning his first ATP Tour title in Bastad, and reaching the semi-finals in Hamburg, defeating No. 8 Andrey Rublev along the way. He also became the first Argentine grass court ATP Tour champion since Javier Frana in 1995 by capturing his second ATP Tour title at the 2023 Eastbourne tournament.

Furthermore, Cerundolo made history at the 2022 Miami tournament by becoming the lowest-ranked semi-finalist in its 37-year history as the World No. 103. He was also the first player to reach the semi-finals in his ATP Masters 1000 main draw debut since Jerzy Janowicz in 2012 Paris.

Cerundolo comes from a family with a strong tennis background. His father, Alejandro, also played professional tennis, while his younger brother, Juan Manuel, won the Cordoba title in 2021. Additionally, his sister, Constanza, represented the Argentinian field hockey team that won a gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics.

In this match, Cerundolo will be aiming to reach his first quarter-final on hard courts since the 2023 ATP Masters 1000 Miami tournament, where he lost to Karen Khachanov. Additionally, a win in this match will allow him to achieve 30 victories in a season for the second time in his career, with his previous achievement being in 2023 when he recorded 39 wins.

My Conclusion / Prediction:

My pick is that Engel will win.
Matchstat.com has an Artificial Intelligence (Ai) prediction model that is trained on all professional ATP and WTA past matches.

To find out who our model thinks will win for Justin Engel vs Francisco Cerundolo, have a look at the prediction here:

Matchstat.com Justin Engel vs Francisco Cerundolo prediction.