Jurij Rodionov and Rei Sakamoto will square off in the 1st round of the Kobe Challenger for the 2nd time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Tuesday at 4:00 pm on COURT C. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Jurij Rodionov who should win in 3 sets.

As per the initial odds, Jurij Rodionov is the pick to win this match.
Jurij Rodionov -> 1.46
Rei Sakamoto -> 2.56

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Prediction and head to head Jurij Rodionov vs. Rei Sakamoto

This will be the 2nd time that Jurij Rodionov and Rei Sakamoto clash against each other. The head to head is 1-0 for Sakamoto (see full H2H stats), but they have never competed against each other on indoor hard courts.

The last time that they played each other, Sakamoto won 6-4 6-4 in the 1st round in the Yokkaichi Challenger back in 2023.

Jurij Rodionov

Jurij Rodionov

23 - 30win/loss

Hard
10-9
I Hard
7-6
Clay
6-12
Grass
0-3
Rank
177
High
87
LLWWWWLLWW
Year Total Hard Clay I.hard Grass Carpet
2024 27-32 10-10 6-12 11-7 0-3 0-0
2023 44-33 3-6 15-13 21-11 5-3 0-0
2022 45-31 5-5 16-11 21-11 3-4 0-0
2021 20-28 2-4 2-7 13-13 3-3 0-1
2020 25-16 5-1 7-6 12-8 0-0 1-1

Ranked no. 197, Jurij will start his run in the Kobe Challenger after he played his last match in the Matsuyama Challenger where he lost 6-4 6-3 to Isomura in the 1st round on the 5th of November.

The Austrian has a composed 23-30 win-loss record in 2024, 7-6 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).

His best result of the current season was winning the title the Koblenz Challenger where he beat Brandon Nakashima in the final 6-7(7) 6-1 6-2.

Talking about his overall career, Jurij has an overall 269-211 record. He has a positive 96-60 record on indoor hard courts.

Previously in the Kobe Challenger

Previously, his best result was reaching the quarter in 2023. See his history.

Kobe Challenger
Rodionov's Record

Rei Sakamoto

Rei Sakamoto

13 - 14win/loss

Hard
5-10
I Hard
2-1
Clay
6-3
Rank
769
High
769
WLWWLLLLLW
Year Total Hard Clay I.hard Grass Carpet
2024 14-15 6-10 6-3 2-2 0-0 0-0
2023 7-11 1-4 5-5 1-2 0-0 0-0
2022 5-6 5-3 0-3 0-0 0-0 0-0

Ranked no. 799, the Japanese got to the 1st

round after defeating Dane Sweeny 6-4 6-2 and Yan Bai 6-3 6-3.

In the qualifications, Rei had a good straight sets win against Bai (6-3 6-3). During the match Sakamoto scored 68 points vs Bai’s 53. Rei was extremely aggressive to blast 25 winners.

About the serving games, Sakamoto bagged 7 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Rei Sakamoto was pretty efficient on serve to win 74% (25/34) of his 1st serve and 59% (17/29) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Sakamoto broke Bai 3 times after converting 33% of his break points (3/9).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Japanese started his run at this tournament from the qualifications. In the main draw, he hasn’t conceded yet a set in this competition to conquer 57% of the points he played.

Sakamoto’s best result of the current season was getting to the semifinal in M15 Cervia and M25 La Nucia.

The Japanese has a composed 13-14 win-loss record in 2024, 2-1 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Kobe Challenger

Previously, his best result was reaching the qualifications in 2023. See his history.

Kobe Challenger
Sakamoto's Record

Tennis Scores in Kobe Challenger

Upcoming matches in the draw