Mark Lajal and Norbert Gombos will clash against each other in the semifinal of the Zhangjiagang Challenger for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday 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 -> 1.53
Norbert Gombos -> 2.4
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Prediction and head to head Mark Lajal vs. Norbert Gombos
There is no head to head record between Mark Lajal and Norbert Gombos since this will be the first time that they will square off in the main tour.
Mark Lajal
23 - 20win/loss
229
191
LLWWLWWLWW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 38-30 | 18-14 | 0-3 | 15-10 | 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, Lajal got to the semifinal after beating Philip Henning 4-6 7-5 7-6(5), Ryan Peniston 6-2 6-2 and Rio Noguchi 6-4 6-2.
In the quarter, Lajal had a good straight sets win against Noguchi (6-4 6-2). During the match, Lajal scored 63 points vs Noguchi’s 43. Mark was pretty aggressive to blast 25 winners.
Regarding the service games, Lajal scored 4 aces and he committed only 1 double fault. Mark Lajal was pretty efficient on serve to win 89% (25/28) of his 1st serve and 67% (12/18) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Mark broke Noguchi 3 times after converting 38% of his break points (3/8).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Lajal has surrendered 1 set in this competition to win 55% of the points he played.
Lajal has a solid win-loss record in the last 4 years having won 60% of his matches (120-80). 16-11 on hard in 2024. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this event, Lajal has an aggregate81-43 win-loss record in the last 4 years on hard.
Mark’s best result of the current year was getting to the semifinal in the Shenzhen 1 Challenger.
The Estonian has an aggregate 23-20 win-loss record in 2024, 16-11 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Zhangjiagang Challenger
Mark has never competed in this tournament before.
Norbert Gombos
18 - 16win/loss
431
80
LLLLLLWWWW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 23-23 | 13-3 | 10-13 | 0-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 18-23 | 2-4 | 11-10 | 4-7 | 1-2 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 41-28 | 7-3 | 28-17 | 6-8 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 26-30 | 0-9 | 13-10 | 12-8 | 1-3 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 18-11 | 6-4 | 2-1 | 10-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 584, Gombos reached the semifinal after defeating Qian Sun 6-2 7-6(4), Ye Cong Mo 6-3 6-4, Yibing Wu 7-5 5-7 6-1, Chak Lam Coleman Wong 6-2 7-6(3) and Dalibor Svrcina w/o.
In the quarter, Norbert defeated Svrcina (w/o). During the match Gombos and Svrcina scored the same amount of points (). However, the world no. 247 was stronger during the important points and that was the most significant difference in the match. The Slovakian was not very aggressive do strike just winners.
Talking about serving, Gombos couldn’t to score even 1 ace for the entire match and he was extremely consistent in conceding no double faults for the entire match. Norbert Gombos conceded no breaks for the entire match to put 0% of his first serves in, win 0% (/) of the points behind his 1st serve and 0% (/) on the 2nd serve.
Overall Performance in this tournament
Norbert started his run at this tournament from the qualifications. In the main draw, he has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 55% of the points he played.
The Slovakian has an overall 18-16 win-loss record in 2024, 8-1 on hard (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Lajal | Gombos |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 3 | 4 |
| Tot Set | 7 | 9 |
| Tot Games | 69 | 92 |
| Pts | 230-188 | 329-267 |
| Total Points | 418 | 596 |
| Winners | 103 | 115 |
| %Winners | 45% | 35% |
Lajal played 3 matches while Gombos competed in 4 matches. Gombos started his run from the qualifications while Lajal had a direct access to the main draw. Both players lost a set in the event. Mark Lajal lost 1 set, while Norbert Gombos dropped 1 set. Lajal has played 2 set(s) less than Gombos (7 vs 9). Therefore, Lajal played 23 games less than Gombos. Lajal scored 103 winners (45% of the total points). On the other side, Norbert struck 115 winners (35%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Lajal | Gombos |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 22 | 30 |
| Avg per match | 7.3 | 7.5 |
| 1st in | 121/196 | 155/279 |
| %1st in | 62% | 56% |
| 1st pts | 103/121 | 115/155 |
| %1st pts | 85% | 74% |
| 2nd pts | 40/75 | 67/124 |
| %2nd pts | 53% | 54% |
Lajal made 22 aces (7.3 per match). Gombos scored 30 aces (7.5 per match). Lajal won 85% points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 53% of the points. On the other side, Gombos won 74% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 54% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Lajal | Gombos |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 10 | 17 |
| Converted | 10/26 | 17/37 |
| % Converted | 38% | 46% |
| Conceded | 7 | 25 |
| Saved | 4 | 17 |
| % Saved | 57% | 68% |
| Times Broken | 3 | 8 |
Mark broke his opponents 10 times with a 38% conversion rate. Mark lost his serve 3 times and he saved 57% of the break points that he conceded. Gombos broke his opponents 17 times with a 46% conversion rate. Gombos conceded his serve 8 times and he saved 68% of the break points that he conceded.
| Lajal | |||||
| R1 Henning |
R2 Peniston |
1/4 Noguchi |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 4-6 7-5 7-65 | 6-2 6-2 | 6-4 6-2 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Tot Games | 35 | 16 | 18 | 69 | |
| pts | 106-105 | 61-40 | 63-43 | 230-188 | |
| Total points | 211 | 101 | 106 | 418 | |
| Winners | 52 | 26 | 25 | 103 | |
| %Winners | 49% | 43% | 40% | 45% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 15 | 3 | 4 | 22 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |
| 1st in | 64/98 | 29/52 | 28/46 | 121/196 | |
| % 1st in | 65% | 56% | 61% | 62% | |
| 1st pts | 52/64 | 26/29 | 25/28 | 103/121 | |
| % 1st pts | 81% | 90% | 89% | 85% | |
| 2nd pts | 17/34 | 11/23 | 12/18 | 40/75 | |
| % 2nd pts | 50% | 48% | 67% | 53% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | |
| Converted | 3/9 | 4/9 | 3/8 | 10/26 | |
| Converted % | 33% | 44% | 38% | 38% | |
| Conceded | 5 | 2 | 0 | 7 | |
| Saved | 2/5 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 4 | |
| Saved % | 40% | 100% | – | 47% | |
| Times Broken | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Gombos | |||||||
| Q1 Sun |
Q3 Cong |
R1 Wu |
R2 Lam Coleman Wong |
1/4 Svrcina |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-2 7-64 | 6-3 6-4 | 7-5 5-7 6-1 | 6-2 7-63 | w/o | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | 9 | |
| Tot Games | 21 | 19 | 31 | 21 | – | 92 | |
| pts | 76-60 | 66-49 | 111-96 | 76-62 | – | 329-267 | |
| Total points | 136 | 115 | 207 | 138 | – | 596 | |
| Winners | 25 | 21 | 38 | 31 | – | 115 | |
| %Winners | 33% | 32% | 34% | 41% | – | 35% | |
| SERVE | |||||||
| Aces | 6 | 10 | 7 | 7 | – | 30 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | – | 9 | |
| 1st in | 36/64 | 27/51 | 52/95 | 40/69 | – | 155/279 | |
| % 1st in | 56% | 53% | 55% | 58% | – | 56% | |
| 1st pts | 25/36 | 21/27 | 38/52 | 31/40 | – | 115/155 | |
| % 1st pts | 69% | 78% | 73% | 78% | – | 74% | |
| 2nd pts | 13/28 | 17/24 | 19/43 | 18/29 | – | 67/124 | |
| % 2nd pts | 46% | 71% | 44% | 62% | – | 54% | |
| Breaks | |||||||
| Won | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | – | 17 | |
| Converted | 5/11 | 3/5 | 7/17 | 2/4 | – | 17/37 | |
| Converted % | 45% | 60% | 41% | 50% | – | 46% | |
| Conceded | 6 | 3 | 10 | 6 | – | 25 | |
| Saved | 3/6 | 2/3 | 6/10 | 6/6 | – | 17 | |
| Saved % | 50% | 67% | 60% | 100% | – | 92% | |
| Times Broken | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | – | 8 | |
Head 2 Head
LLWWLWWLWW
LLLLLLWWWW Tennis Scores in Zhangjiagang Challenger
- Seong Chan HongChan Hong – Fajing SunSun (5-7 6-2 6-2) – See score progression
- Mark LajalLajal – Rio NoguchiNoguchi (6-4 6-2) – See score progression
- Yasutaka UchiyamaUchiyama – Tung-Lin WuWu (6-75 6-3 6-4) – See score progression
- Francis Casey Alcantara/Pruchya IsarowCasey Alcantara/Pruchya Isarow – Ajeet Rai/Finn ReynoldsRai/Finn Reynolds (6-3 6-77 10-6) – See score progression
- Norbert GombosGombos – Dalibor SvrcinaSvrcina (w/o) – See score progression
- Kaichi Uchida/Takeru YuzukiUchida/Takeru Yuzuki – Toshihide Matsui/Kaito UesugiMatsui/Kaito Uesugi (7-5 6-73 11-9) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Yasutaka UchiyamaUchiyama – Seong Chan HongChan Hong (3-1) – H2H and prediction
- Norbert GombosGombos – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
