I do have to apologise for getting my posts out late when it comes to recent Paris Masters rounds, especially since I have been getting a fair few correct since starting my official blog predicting match outcomes, right now I am 6 from 8 including yesterdays bet which I did manage to post 4 hours before the match was played for once! That was Coric vs Medvedev that I covered here, a battle of the next generation where I had Coric down to win at near 2.00. The Croatian came through that match comfortably in straight sets vs the Russian 6-4, 6-4.

Today I have three matches I am covering in the 1/8 Finals, one round before the quarters. They feature some longer odds opponents mainly but are all worth considering given their recent good form or their opponents poor form. It's always worth considering the contrast in styles of play when considering the outcome of a match. The three matches I am covering are:

Marin Cilic vs Grigor Dimitrov

Karen Khachanov vs John Isner

Borna Coric vs Dominic Thiem

The Cilic vs Dimitrov match will be starting shortly so for this post I will be focusing on this match alone.

I was keeping an eye on Grigor Dimitrov vs Roberto Bautista Agut because I had a feeling Dimitrov would come through that match but I know how good Bautista Agut can be (especially when I watched him vs Federer in Basel this month) so I didn't fancy putting it down as a prediction. Seeing Dimitrov come through in straight sets at 2.10 was not surprising but nevertheless I thought that was an excellent result for the Bulgarian who has been having a very up and down year. He is a very talented tennis player who can get results against many of the top 10 players on his day and today he faces a Croatian who is very out of sorts of late.

Marin Cilic has had some very suspect losses in 4 of his past 5 tournaments. Here are those most recent defeats:

vs Marius Copil: Basel ATP Indoor: 5-7, 6-7

vs Nicolas Jarry: Shanghai Masters: 6-2, 6-7, 5-7

vs Jan-Lennard Struff: Tokyo ATP 500: 6-3, 4-6, 6-7

vs Sam Querrey: Davis Cup: 7-6, 6-7, 3-6, 4-6

Right now Cilic who is the world number 7 is in danger of slipping out of the top 10. His strengths are his serve and forehand but he has never been the best at rallying from the back due to his height and build. He can sometimes struggle against defensive opponents who can move around the court very well or those willing to dig their heels in and battle. All his recent defeats have been against players outside the top 40 meaning he has really hit a poor spell of form at the wrong time and has not yet qualified for the London ATP Finals because of it.

Even though he will be desperate to win today he is up against a Bulgarian who has a great all around game and it won't be an easy. Recently Dimitrov has enlisted the help of the Legend Andre Agassi (the 8 Grand Slam Winner) who I think can really help him regain his focus and become more resilient on court plus even more aggressive at taking games to the opponent. Agassi will bring a know how to Dimitrov's game that will suit the sort of game the Bulgarian desperately needs to be playing - looking to bully people on court more with his wicked forehand and single handed backhand. He has an excellent all around game so it's a bit perplexing why he has struggled this year to hold the form he showed last year.

However coming up against an opponent who is clear suffering from a lack of confidence with some really abysmal defeats he has a chance to finish the season strongly and no doubt he will be keen to impress his new coach at the Masters.

Match Prediction:

This is not an obvious victory for Dimitrov but he stands a really good chance here to prey on Cilic's loss in form and lack of confidence. Take the Bulgarian at excellent odds for 2.80 to continue his winning start under his new coach Andre Agassi. I believe he has a 50% of winning this match so his odds are very generous.