Mark Lajal and Rio Noguchi will play each other in the quarter of the Zhangjiagang Challenger for the 3rd 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.
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 3rd 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
22 - 20win/loss
247
191
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 22-20 | 15-11 | 0-3 | 2-3 | 5-3 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 46-29 | 25-16 | 5-2 | 16-11 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 46-24 | 35-12 | 2-6 | 9-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 5-7 | 5-4 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
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 2nd 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
32 - 22win/loss
302
201
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 32-22 | 27-15 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 4-3 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 19-31 | 12-18 | 2-7 | 2-2 | 3-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 54-22 | 41-10 | 9-9 | 0-1 | 4-2 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 25-26 | 18-18 | 7-8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 14-12 | 5-6 | 0-3 | 3-2 | 6-1 | 0-0 |
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 2nd 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)
.Previously in the Zhangjiagang Challenger
Previously, his best result was reaching the 1st 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