French Open - Verdasco v Dimitrov

Fernando Verdacso might be getting on a bit now, but he's still a committed contender when it comes to clay battles, and he has it in him to upset world no.5 Grigor Dimitov on Fridy morning. The Spaniard leads their career head-to-head 3-2, and beat the Bulgarian earlier this season at Indian Wells.

Looking at clay performances, against Top 100 players over the past three seasons, it is Verdasco who tops all the important metrics. He has a 78% hold rate, compared to just 72% for Dimitrov, and has won 63.1% of service points (versus 61.2%). He's also won 40.1% of receiving points (versus 37.3%).

This should be a close match, of that we have no doubt, but given Dimitrov was taken all the way to an extremely long fifth set by Jared Donaldson, a man he should have beaten comfortably, it's fair to say his preparation could have been better for this one. Dimitrov was a 1/7 shot in that one but ended up on court for nearly four and a half hours. He also won a poor 35% of receiving points.

2pts Verdasco to beat Dimitrov at 13/10 (Marathon Bet)

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