H2H: Dusan Lajovic vs Benoit Paire - Prediction (ATP Cup Australia

Lajovic D. (Srb) vs Paire B. (Fra). Preview and players comparison.

A motivated and hungry Benoit Paire should have the upper-hand against Dusan Lajovic and expect him to be motivated for this clash as it is more or less a must-win contest for France.

Benoit Paire recovered from a set deficit to complete an encouraging three-set win over the big-serving Nicolas Jarry in his ATP Cup opener on Saturday, 6-7 6-3 6-3. This was only Benoit Paire’s second win for France in team competitions as he lost four of his previous five singles matches in the Davis Cup and Hopman Cup. France relies on Benoit Paire to give them a 1-0 lead as Novak Djokovic is the huge favorite to win the other singles rubber against Gael Monfils. These two nations met recently in the Davis Cup finals last November, and Serbia managed to edge that contest 2-1.

French #2 Benoit Paire posted surprisingly consistent results for the most part of the 2019 season, and it will be interesting to see if he can replicate those results and maintain his ranking inside the top #30 in a few months time. The mercurial Frenchman won two ATP World Tour titles in the first half of 2019 and made quite a few quarterfinal appearances on the main tour, but his end of season form hasn’t been too great as he could win only two of his last nine matches.

Dusan Lajovic, with the help of the grueling conditions in Brisbane, overcame strong resistance from Lloyd Harris, 3-6 7-6 6-3. The last time Lajovic won back-to-back matches for Serbia in a team competition was in 2017 when he won three of his four singles rubber in the Davis Cup with one of those wins coming against the Frenchman Lucas Pouille.Dusan Lajovic finished the 2019 season with a minus w/l ratio (24/28), but he still managed to attain his career-high ranking of #23, thanks to his runner-up finish in Monte Carlo Masters and winning the maiden ATP Tour title in Umag.