Cezar Cretu and Nicola Kuhn will square off in the qualifications of the Murcia Challenger for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Monday at 1:30 pm on PISTA 3. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Nicola Kuhn who should win in 3 sets.
Nicola Kuhn -> 1.56
Cezar Cretu -> 2.33
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Prediction and head to head Cezar Cretu vs. Nicola Kuhn
There is no head to head record between Cezar Cretu and Nicola Kuhn since this will be the first time that they will face off in the main tour.
Cezar Cretu
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 52-26 | 4-5 | 46-21 | 2-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 55-22 | 13-9 | 42-13 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 60-26 | 0-0 | 60-26 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 41-19 | 0-3 | 41-16 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 21-9 | 14-5 | 7-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 334 (career-high), the Romanian got to the qualifications after defeating Ivan Liutarevich 6-3 6-4.
In the qualifications, Cezar had a good straight sets win against Liutarevich (6-3 6-4). During the match, Cretu scored 65 points vs Liutarevich’s 52. Cretu was quite aggressive to blast 32 winners.
Talking about the service games, Cretu scored just 1 ace during the match and he committed only 1 double fault. Cezar Cretu lost the serve twice and he saved 1 break points. Furthermore, Cretu put 75% of his first serves in, winning 78% (32/41) of the points behind his 1st serve and 36% (5/14) on the 2nd serve. Cezar broke Liutarevich 4 times after converting 67% of his break points (4/6).
Cretu has a fantastic record in the last 7 years having won 70% of his matches (208-89). 16-5 on clay in 2024. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this competition, Cretu has a composed181-72 record in the last 7 years on clay.
The Romanian’s best result of the season was getting to the final in M15 Antalya.
Cretu has a compiled 16-5 win-loss record in 2024, 16-5 on clay (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Murcia Challenger
The Romanian has never competed in this tournament before.
Nicola Kuhn
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 42-14 | 8-3 | 29-9 | 5-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 17-5 | 0-0 | 17-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 14-21 | 4-5 | 4-9 | 3-5 | 3-2 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 20-28 | 2-6 | 14-15 | 2-4 | 2-2 | 0-1 |
| 2020 | 4-12 | 0-3 | 1-7 | 3-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 589, Kuhn got to the qualifications after beating Felix Gill 2-6 6-2 6-3.
In the qualifications against Gill, Nicola recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (2-6 6-2 6-3). During the match Kuhn scored 90 points vs Gill’s 80. The Spaniard was extremely aggressive to blast 42 winners.
About the serving games, Kuhn managed to score 5 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Nicola Kuhn lost the serve 3 times and he saved 15 break points. Furthermore, Kuhn put 63% of his first serves in, winning 70% (42/60) of the points behind his 1st serve and 46% (16/35) on the 2nd serve. The Spaniard broke Gill 4 times after converting 36% of his break points (4/11).
The Spaniard’s best result of the current season was getting to the semifinal in M15 Monastir.
Nicola has an overall 14-5 win-loss record in 2024, 1-0 on clay (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Cretu | Kuhn |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 1 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 3 |
| Tot Games | 19 | 25 |
| Pts | 65-52 | 90-80 |
| Total Points | 117 | 170 |
| Winners | 32 | 42 |
| %Winners | 49% | 47% |
Both Cretu and Kuhn played 1 match. Also both players started their run from the qualifications.At the moment, Nicola Kuhn surrendered 1 set while Cezar Cretu hasn’t surrendered a set so far. Cretu has played 1 set(s) less than Kuhn (2 vs 3). Therefore, Cretu played 6 games less than Kuhn. Cezar scored 32 winners (49% of the total points). On the other side, The Spaniard blasted 42 winners (47%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Cretu | Kuhn |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 1 | 5 |
| Avg per match | 1 | 5 |
| 1st in | 41/55 | 60/95 |
| %1st in | 75% | 63% |
| 1st pts | 32/41 | 42/60 |
| %1st pts | 78% | 70% |
| 2nd pts | 5/14 | 16/35 |
| %2nd pts | 36% | 46% |
Cretu managed to score 1 ace . Kuhn also blasted 5 aces . Cretu won 78% points on his first serve. He extremely effective on his second serve to win 36% of the points. On the other side, Kuhn won 70% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 46% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Cretu | Kuhn |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 4 | 4 |
| Converted | 4/6 | 4/11 |
| % Converted | 67% | 36% |
| Conceded | 3 | 18 |
| Saved | 1 | 15 |
| % Saved | 33% | 83% |
| Times Broken | 2 | 3 |
Cretu broke his opponent 4 times with a 67% conversion rate. Cretu surrendered his serve twice and he saved 33% of the break points that he conceded. The Spaniard broke his opponent 4 times with a 36% conversion rate. The Spaniard conceded his serve 3 times and he saved 83% of the break points that he conceded.
| Cretu | |||
| Q1 Liutarevich | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-4 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 19 | 19 | |
| pts | 65-52 | 65-52 | |
| Total points | 117 | 117 | |
| Winners | 32 | 32 | |
| %Winners | 49% | 49% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 1 | 1 | |
| Double Faults | 1 | 1 | |
| 1st in | 41/55 | 41/55 | |
| % 1st in | 75% | 75% | |
| 1st pts | 32/41 | 32/41 | |
| % 1st pts | 78% | 78% | |
| 2nd pts | 5/14 | 5/14 | |
| % 2nd pts | 36% | 36% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 4 | 4 | |
| Converted | 4/6 | 4/6 | |
| Converted % | 67% | 67% | |
| Conceded | 3 | 3 | |
| Saved | 1/3 | 1 | |
| Saved % | 33% | 33% | |
| Times Broken | 2 | 2 | |
| Kuhn | |||
| Q1 Gill | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 2-6 6-2 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 3 | |
| Tot Games | 25 | 25 | |
| pts | 90-80 | 90-80 | |
| Total points | 170 | 170 | |
| Winners | 42 | 42 | |
| %Winners | 47% | 47% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 5 | 5 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 2 | |
| 1st in | 60/95 | 60/95 | |
| % 1st in | 63% | 63% | |
| 1st pts | 42/60 | 42/60 | |
| % 1st pts | 70% | 70% | |
| 2nd pts | 16/35 | 16/35 | |
| % 2nd pts | 46% | 46% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 4 | 4 | |
| Converted | 4/11 | 4/11 | |
| Converted % | 36% | 36% | |
| Conceded | 18 | 18 | |
| Saved | 15/18 | 15 | |
| Saved % | 83% | 83% | |
| Times Broken | 3 | 3 | |
Upcoming matches in the draw
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- Nikoloz BasilashviliBasilashvili – Diego Augusto Barreto SanchezAugusto Barreto Sanchez (0-0) – H2H and prediction
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- Santiago Fa Rodriguez TavernaFa Rodriguez Taverna – Richard GasquetGasquet (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Nicola KuhnKuhn – Cezar Cretu (ROU)Cretu (ROU) (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Ugo BlanchetBlanchet – Alejandro Moro CanasMoro Canas (0-0) – H2H and prediction
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- Titouan DroguetDroguet – Stefano NapolitanoNapolitano (1-0) – H2H and prediction
- Pablo Llamas RuizLlamas Ruiz – Jan ChoinskiChoinski (0-0) – H2H and prediction