Jozef Kovalik and Federico Gaio will play each other in the 2nd round of the Belgrade Challenger for the 5th time of their career. They are scheduled to compete on Wednesday at 12:30 pm on COURT 1. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and the prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Jozef Kovalik who should win in 3 sets.
As per the initial odds, Jozef Kovalik is the pick to win this match.
Jozef Kovalik -> 1.53
Federico Gaio -> 2.37
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Prediction and head to head Jozef Kovalik vs. Federico Gaio
This will be the 5th time that Jozef Kovalik and Federico Gaio play each other. The head to head is 3-1 for Kovalik (see full H2H stats), 2-1 on clay.
The last time that they locked horns, Gaio won 6-0 6-4 in the 3rd round in the Prostejov Challenger back in 2019.
Jozef Kovalik
Ranked no. 128, the Slovakian got to the 2nd round after defeating Francisco Cerundolo 7-66 6-1.
In the 1st round, Kovalik had a good straight sets win against Cerundolo (7-66 6-1). During the match Kovalik scored 72 points vs Cerundolo’s 62. The Slovakian was extremely aggressive to blast 26 winners.
Regarding the service games, Kovalik couldn’t to score even 1 ace during the match and he was exceptionally steady in conceding no double faults. Jozef Kovalik lost the serve twice and he saved 3 break points. Furthermore, Kovalik put 69% of his first serves in, winning 58% (26/45) of the points behind his 1st serve and 65% (13/20) on the 2nd serve. Jozef broke Cerundolo 5 times after converting 83% of his break points (5/6).
Kovalik has a good win-loss record in the last 10 years having won 59% of his matches (344-237). 9-7 on clay in 2021. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this competition, Kovalik has a 261-153 match record in the last years on clay.
Kovalik’s best result of the current season was getting to the semifinal in the Istanbul Challenger.
The Slovakian has a 12-9 win-loss record in 2021, 9-7 on clay (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Belgrade Challenger
Kovalik has never competed in this tournament before.
Federico Gaio
Ranked no. 136, Gaio reached the 2nd round after beating Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 6-3.
In the 1st round, Federico had a good straight sets win against Donskoy (6-4 6-3). During the match Gaio scored 65 points vs Donskoy’s 49. Federico was exceptionally aggressive to blast 30 winners.
Talking about serving, Gaio bagged 4 aces and he was quite solid in conceding no double faults for the entire match. Federico Gaio was quite efficient on serve to win 81% (30/37) of his 1st serve and 69% (11/16) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Federico broke Donskoy twice after converting 33% of his break points (2/6).
Federico’s best result of the current season was getting to the semifinal in the Biella 1 Challenger.
The Italian has a 14-12 win-loss record in 2021, 2-3 on clay (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Kovalik | Gaio |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 1 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 |
| Tot Games | 20 | 19 |
| Pts | 72-62 | 65-49 |
| Total Points | 134 | 114 |
| Winners | 26 | 30 |
| %Winners | 36% | 46% |
Both Kovalik and Gaio played 1 match. Both players have not surrendered a single set in this event so far. Talking about their workload, Kovalik and Gaio have played the same amount of sets 2. However, Kovalik played 1 game more than Gaio. The Slovakian scored 26 winners (36% of the total points). On the other side, The Italian fired 30 winners (46%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Kovalik | Gaio |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 0 | 4 |
| Avg per match | 0 | 4 |
| 1st in | 45/65 | 37/53 |
| %1st in | 69% | 70% |
| 1st pts | 26/45 | 30/37 |
| %1st pts | 58% | 81% |
| 2nd pts | 13/20 | 11/16 |
| %2nd pts | 65% | 69% |
Kovalik didn’t manage to fire a single ace to far. Gaio bagged 4 aces . Kovalik won 58% points on his first serve. He extremely effective on his second serve to win 65% of the points. On the other side, Gaio won 81% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 69% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Kovalik | Gaio |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 5 | 2 |
| Converted | 5/6 | 2/6 |
| % Converted | 83% | 33% |
| Conceded | 5 | 3 |
| Saved | 3 | 3 |
| % Saved | 60% | 100% |
| Times Broken | 2 | 0 |
Kovalik broke his opponent 5 times with a 83% conversion rate. Jozef conceded his serve twice and he saved 60% of the break points that he conceded. Gaio broke his opponent twice with a 33% conversion rate. The Italian was rock solid on his serve as he has never conceded a single service game after saving 3 break points.
| Kovalik | |||
| R1 Cerundolo |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 7-66 6-1 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 20 | 20 | |
| pts | 72-62 | 72-62 | |
| Total points | 134 | 134 | |
| Winners | 26 | 26 | |
| %Winners | 36% | 36% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 0 | 0 | |
| Double Faults | 0 | 0 | |
| 1st in | 45/65 | 45/65 | |
| % 1st in | 69% | 69% | |
| 1st pts | 26/45 | 26/45 | |
| % 1st pts | 58% | 58% | |
| 2nd pts | 13/20 | 13/20 | |
| % 2nd pts | 65% | 65% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 5 | 5 | |
| Converted | 5/6 | 5/6 | |
| Converted % | 83% | 83% | |
| Conceded | 5 | 5 | |
| Saved | 3/5 | 3 | |
| Saved % | 60% | 60% | |
| Times Broken | 2 | 2 | |
| Gaio | |||
| R1 Donskoy |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-4 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 19 | 19 | |
| pts | 65-49 | 65-49 | |
| Total points | 114 | 114 | |
| Winners | 30 | 30 | |
| %Winners | 46% | 46% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 4 | 4 | |
| Double Faults | 0 | 0 | |
| 1st in | 37/53 | 37/53 | |
| % 1st in | 70% | 70% | |
| 1st pts | 30/37 | 30/37 | |
| % 1st pts | 81% | 81% | |
| 2nd pts | 11/16 | 11/16 | |
| % 2nd pts | 69% | 69% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 2 | 2 | |
| Converted | 2/6 | 2/6 | |
| Converted % | 33% | 33% | |
| Conceded | 3 | 3 | |
| Saved | 3/3 | 3 | |
| Saved % | 100% | 100% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | |
Head 2 Head
LLWWLWWWLW
Tennis Scores in Belgrade Challenger
- Brandon NakashimaNakashima – Elliot BenchetritBenchetrit (6-77 6-1 6-0) – See score progression
- Hamad MedjedovicMedjedovic – Oscar OtteOtte (6-3 1-6 6-3) – See score progression
- Hugo DellienDellien – Tallon GriekspoorGriekspoor (7-67 6-4) – See score progression
- Taro DanielDaniel – Marko MiladinovicMiladinovic (6-1 7-5) – See score progression
- Philipp KohlschreiberKohlschreiber – Maxime CressyCressy (7-5 4-6 6-2) – See score progression
- Federico GaioGaio – Evgeny DonskoyDonskoy (6-4 6-3) – See score progression
- Sebastian OfnerOfner – Daniel Elahi GalanElahi Galan (7-5 3-6 6-4) – See score progression
- Liam BroadyBroady – Nikola MilojevicMilojevic (6-3 6-4) – See score progression
- Damir DzumhurDzumhur – Pedja KrstinKrstin (4-6 6-2 6-3) – See score progression
- Facundo BagnisBagnis – Jurij RodionovRodionov (2-6 6-1 6-2) – See score progression
- Jozef KovalikKovalik – Francisco CerundoloCerundolo (7-66 6-1) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Matthias BachingerBachinger – Antoine HoangHoang (0-1) – H2H and prediction
- Marco TrungellitiTrungelliti – Danilo PetrovicPetrovic (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Jozef KovalikKovalik – Federico GaioGaio (3-1) – H2H and prediction
- Blaz RolaRola – Alessandro GiannessiGiannessi (0-1) – H2H and prediction
- Damir DzumhurDzumhur – Philipp KohlschreiberKohlschreiber (0-1) – H2H and prediction
- Roberto Carballes BaenaCarballes Baena – Arthur RinderknechRinderknech (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Goncalo OliveiraOliveira – Benjamin BonziBonzi (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Sebastian OfnerOfner – Liam BroadyBroady (0-1) – H2H and prediction
- Brandon NakashimaNakashima – Hugo DellienDellien (0-0) – H2H and prediction
