Valentin Royer and Max Houkes will face off in the semifinal of the Kigali 2 Challenger for the 3^rd time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Saturday at 1:00 pm on CENTRE COURT. In the following lines you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Valentin Royer who should win in 2 sets.

As per the initial odds, Valentin Royer is the pick to win this match.
Valentin Royer -> 1.35
Max Houkes -> 2.99

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Prediction and head to head Valentin Royer vs. Max Houkes

This will be the 3^rd time that Valentin Royer and Max Houkes fight against each other. The head to head is 2-0 for Royer (see full H2H stats), 2-0 on clay.

The last time that they fought against each other, Royer won 6-4 2-6 6-3 in the semifinal in M25 Santa Margherita di Pula back in 2024.

Valentin Royer

Ranked no. 151 (career-high), Royer got to the semifinal after defeating Oriol Roca Batalla 6-2 4-6 6-3, Franco Agamenone 7-6(3) 7-6(2) and Gabriele Pennaforti 6-3 7-6(5).

In the quarter, Valentin had a good straight sets win against Pennaforti (6-3 7-6⁵). During the match, Royer scored 82 points vs Pennaforti’s 71. Valentin was very aggressive to blast 36 winners.

Talking about the service games, Royer scored 6 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Valentin Royer lost the serve once and he saved 1 break points. Furthermore, Royer put 57% of his first serves in, winning 82% (36/44) of the points behind his 1st serve and 48% (16/33) on the 2nd serve. Valentin broke Pennaforti twice after converting 29% of his break points (2/7).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Royer has conceded 1 set in this competition to conquer 54% of the points he played.

Royer has a solid match record in the last 8 years having won 65% of his matches (222-121). 8-0 on clay in 2025. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this competition, Royer has an overall112-50 win-loss record in the last 8 years on clay.

His best result of the current season was winning the title the Kigali 1 Challenger where he beat Andrej Martin in the final 6-1 6-2.

The French player has an overall 14-5 win-loss record in 2025, 8-0 on clay (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Kigali 2 Challenger

Valentin has never competed in this tournament before.

Max Houkes

Ranked no. 308, Max reached the semifinal after beating Carlos Sanchez Jover 6-3 6-1, Alex Marti Pujolras 5-7 6-4 6-3 and Clement Tabur 6-2 7-6(5).

In the 2^nd round against Marti Pujolras, Max recovered from a 1-set down deficit before winning (5-7 6-4 6-3). During the match Houkes scored 96 points vs Marti Pujolras’s 85. Houkes was very aggressive to blast 46 winners.

Talking about serving, Houkes bagged 6 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Overall, Max Houkes was pretty effective on serve to win 73% (46/63) of his 1st serve and 55% (12/22) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve 4 times. Houkes broke Marti Pujolras 5 times after converting 50% of his break points (5/10).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Dutch has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 56% of the points he played.

Max has an aggregate 9-7 win-loss record in 2025, 9-6 on clay (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Kigali 2 Challenger

Previously, his best result was reaching the semifinal in 2024. See his history.

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Royer	Houkes
Match played	3	3
Tot Set	7	7
Tot Games	75	68
Pts	252-211	238-198
Total Points	463	436
Winners	116	114
%Winners	46%	48%

Both Royer and Houkes played 3 matches. Both players lost a set in the event. Valentin Royer lost 1 set, while Max Houkes dropped 1 set. Talking about their workload, Royer and Houkes have played the same amount of sets 7. However, Royer played 7 games more than Houkes. Valentin scored 116 winners (46% of the total points). On the other side, The Dutch fired 114 winners (48%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Royer	Houkes
Aces	16	10
Avg per match	5.3	3.3
1st in	143/235	151/221
%1st in	61%	68%
1st pts	116/143	114/151
%1st pts	81%	75%
2nd pts	54/92	31/70
%2nd pts	59%	44%

Royer recorded 16 aces (5.3 per match). Houkes scored 10 aces (3.3 per match). Royer won 81% points behind his first serve. He very solid his second serve to win 59% of the points. On the other side, Houkes won 75% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 44% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Royer	Houkes
Won	5	13
Converted	5/14	13/24
% Converted	36%	54%
Conceded	9	20
Saved	7	14
% Saved	78%	70%
Times Broken	2	6

Valentin broke his opponents 5 times with a 36% conversion rate. Royer conceded his serve twice and he saved 78% of the break points that he conceded. The Dutch broke his opponents 13 times with a 54% conversion rate. Max conceded his serve 6 times and he saved 70% of the break points that he conceded.

Royer
	R1 Roca Batalla	R2 Agamenone	1/4 Pennaforti	Total
Score	6-2 4-6 6-3	7-63 7-62	6-3 7-65
Tot Set	3	2	2	7
Tot Games	27	26	22	75
pts	94-73	76-67	82-71	252-211
Total points	167	143	153	463
Winners	38	42	36	116
%Winners	40%	55%	44%	46%
SERVE
Aces	6	4	6	16
Double Faults	4	0	2	6
1st in	50/86	49/72	44/77	143/235
% 1st in	58%	68%	57%	61%
1st pts	38/50	42/49	36/44	116/143
% 1st pts	76%	86%	82%	81%
2nd pts	22/36	16/23	16/33	54/92
% 2nd pts	61%	70%	48%	59%
Breaks
Won	3	0	2	5
Converted	3/6	0/1	2/7	5/14
Converted %	50%	0%	29%	36%
Conceded	5	2	2	9
Saved	4/5	2/2	1/2	7
Saved %	80%	100%	50%	77%
Times Broken	1	0	1	2

Houkes
	R1 Sanchez	R2 Marti	Total
Score	6-3 6-1	5-7 6-4 6-3
Tot Set	2	3	5
Tot Games	16	31	47
pts	60-40	96-85	156-125
Total points	100	181	281
Winners	23	46	69
%Winners	38%	48%	44%
SERVE
Aces	2	6	8
Double Faults	2	4	6
1st in	33/47	63/85	96/132
% 1st in	70%	74%	73%
1st pts	23/33	46/63	69/96
% 1st pts	70%	73%	72%
2nd pts	9/14	12/22	21/36
% 2nd pts	64%	55%	58%
Breaks
Won	5	5	10
Converted	5/9	5/10	10/19
Converted %	56%	50%	53%
Conceded	2	9	11
Saved	1/2	5/9	6
Saved %	50%	56%	35%
Times Broken	1	4	5

Tennis Scores in Kigali 2 Challenger

• Geoffrey Blancaneaux/Zdenek KolarBlancaneaux/Zdenek Kolar – Andrej Martin/Maximilian NeuchristMartin/Maximilian Neuchrist (4-6 6-2 10-7) – Stats, scores, rankings

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Luka PavlovicPavlovic – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Max HoukesHoukes – Valentin RoyerRoyer (0-2) – H2H and prediction