Mark Lajal and Rio Noguchi will play each other in the quarter of the Zhangjiagang Challenger for the 3^rd time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Friday at 1:00 pm on CENTRE COURT. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Mark Lajal who should win in 3 sets.

As per the initial odds, Mark Lajal is the pick to win this match.
Mark Lajal -> 1.5
Rio Noguchi -> 2.47

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Prediction and head to head Mark Lajal vs. Rio Noguchi

This will be the 3^rd time that Mark Lajal and Rio Noguchi fight against each other. The head to head is 1-1 for Lajal and Noguchi (see full H2H stats),but they are 1-1 on hard.

The last time that they played, Lajal won 6-3 6-2 in the qualifications in the Chicago Challenger back in July 2024.

Mark Lajal

Ranked no. 247, the Estonian got to the quarter after defeating Philip Henning 4-6 7-5 7-6(5) and Ryan Peniston 6-2 6-2.

In the 2^nd round, The Estonian had a good straight sets win against Peniston (6-2 6-2). During the match, Lajal scored 61 points vs Peniston’s 40. Mark was very aggressive to blast 26 winners.

Regarding the service games, Lajal recorded 3 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Mark Lajal conceded no breaks for the entire match to save 2 break points. Furthermore, Lajal put 56% of his first serves in, winning 90% (26/29) of the points behind his 1st serve and 48% (11/23) on the 2nd serve. The Estonian broke Peniston 4 times after converting 44% of his break points (4/9).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Estonian has conceded 1 set in this event to conquer 54% of the points he played.

Lajal has a solid match record in the last 4 years having won 60% of his matches (119-80). 15-11 on hard in 2024. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this event, Lajal has an aggregate80-43 match record in the last 4 years on hard.

The Estonian’s best result of the current year was reaching the semifinal in the Shenzhen 1 Challenger.

Lajal has an aggregate 22-20 win-loss record in 2024, 15-11 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Zhangjiagang Challenger

The Estonian has never competed in this tournament before.

Rio Noguchi

Ranked no. 302, the Japanese reached the quarter after beating Mikalai Haliak 6-3 6-3 and Jie Cui 0-6 6-3 6-1.

In the 2^nd round against Cui, Rio recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (0-6 6-3 6-1). During the match Noguchi scored 70 points vs Cui’s 64. Noguchi was exceptionally aggressive to blast 27 winners.

Talking about serving, Noguchi recorded 10 aces and he committed only 1 double fault for the entire match. Rio Noguchi lost the serve 4 times and he saved 1 break points. Furthermore, Noguchi put 72% of his first serves in, winning 64% (27/42) of the points behind his 1st serve and 44% (7/16) on the 2nd serve. The Japanese broke Cui 5 times after converting 38% of his break points (5/13).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Japanese has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 55% of the points he played.

Rio’s best result of the year was reaching the final in M25 Swan Hill and the Jinan Challenger.

The Japanese has an aggregate 32-22 win-loss record in 2024, 27-15 on hard (See FULL STATS)

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Previously in the Zhangjiagang Challenger

Previously, his best result was reaching the 1^st round in 2023. See his history.

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Lajal	Noguchi
Match played	2	2
Tot Set	5	5
Tot Games	51	40
Pts	167-145	134-110
Total Points	312	244
Winners	78	51
%Winners	47%	38%

Both Lajal and Noguchi played 2 matches. Both players lost a set in the event. Mark Lajal lost 1 set, while Rio Noguchi lost 1 set. Talking about their workload, Lajal and Noguchi have played the same amount of sets 5. However, Lajal played 11 games more than Noguchi. Lajal scored 78 winners (47% of the total points). On the other side, Rio managed to score 51 winners (38%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Lajal	Noguchi
Aces	18	11
Avg per match	9	5.5
1st in	93/150	83/111
%1st in	62%	75%
1st pts	78/93	51/83
%1st pts	84%	61%
2nd pts	28/57	14/28
%2nd pts	49%	50%

Lajal scored 18 aces (9 per match). Noguchi struck 11 aces (5.5 per match). Lajal won 84% points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 49% of the points. On the other side, Noguchi won 61% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 50% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Lajal	Noguchi
Won	7	11
Converted	7/18	11/23
% Converted	39%	48%
Conceded	7	10
Saved	4	3
% Saved	57%	30%
Times Broken	3	7

Mark broke his opponents 7 times with a 39% conversion rate. The Estonian dropped his serve 3 times and he saved 57% of the break points that he conceded. Rio broke his opponents 11 times with a 48% conversion rate. The Japanese conceded his serve 7 times and he saved 30% of the break points that he conceded.

Lajal
	R1 Henning	R2 Peniston	Total
Score	4-6 7-5 7-65	6-2 6-2
Tot Set	3	2	5
Tot Games	35	16	51
pts	106-105	61-40	167-145
Total points	211	101	312
Winners	52	26	78
%Winners	49%	43%	47%
SERVE
Aces	15	3	18
Double Faults	4	2	6
1st in	64/98	29/52	93/150
% 1st in	65%	56%	62%
1st pts	52/64	26/29	78/93
% 1st pts	81%	90%	84%
2nd pts	17/34	11/23	28/57
% 2nd pts	50%	48%	49%
Breaks
Won	3	4	7
Converted	3/9	4/9	7/18
Converted %	33%	44%	39%
Conceded	5	2	7
Saved	2/5	2/2	4
Saved %	40%	100%	70%
Times Broken	3	0	3

Noguchi
	R1 Haliak	R2 Cui	Total
Score	6-3 6-3	0-6 6-3 6-1
Tot Set	2	3	5
Tot Games	18	22	40
pts	64-46	70-64	134-110
Total points	110	134	244
Winners	24	27	51
%Winners	38%	39%	38%
SERVE
Aces	1	10	11
Double Faults	1	1	2
1st in	41/53	42/58	83/111
% 1st in	77%	72%	75%
1st pts	24/41	27/42	51/83
% 1st pts	59%	64%	61%
2nd pts	7/12	7/16	14/28
% 2nd pts	58%	44%	50%
Breaks
Won	6	5	11
Converted	6/10	5/13	11/23
Converted %	60%	38%	48%
Conceded	5	5	10
Saved	2/5	1/5	3
Saved %	40%	20%	30%
Times Broken	3	4	7

Tennis Scores in Zhangjiagang Challenger

• Dalibor SvrcinaSvrcina – Norbert GombosGombos (w/o) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Francis Casey Alcantara/Pruchya IsarowCasey Alcantara/Pruchya Isarow – Ajeet Rai/Finn ReynoldsRai/Finn Reynolds (6-3 6-7⁷ 10-6) – Stats, scores, rankings

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Tung-Lin WuWu – Yasutaka UchiyamaUchiyama (3-2) – H2H and prediction
• Fajing SunSun – Seong Chan HongChan Hong (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Rio NoguchiNoguchi – (1-1) – H2H and prediction