Stefan Kozlov vs. Jiri Vesely: Preview and betting tips

Tennis fans have lived to see it. The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, starts on Monday 17 January. Of course, the Czech Republic will also be represented. One of them is Jiri Vesely, who will challenge Stefan Kozlov in the opening round. How will the match play out?

Stefan Kozlov is a 23-year-old American tennis player of Russian origin. He is currently ranked 168th in the ATP rankings. However, his career high is 115th position, where he was in February 2017.

Kozlov has played two matches in 2022. First, he fell to the only 19-year-old Flavio Cobolli after sets of 4::6, 6::3 and 1::6. Five days later, Denis Kudla was also too much for him, to whom he lost 6: 4, 6: 7 and 3: 6.

His opponent will be Jiri Vesely. The twenty-eight-year-old native of Příbram is currently the only tennis player from the Czech Republic who is in the elite 100 (79th place). In the past, however, he was also ranked 35th.

At the beginning of the season, the 2013 Davis Cup winner is in relatively good shape. In fact, he was able to take on both Pouille and Kudla in two sets. He also recorded two losses, but managed to take a set from Paul and lost to Nakashima in two tiebreaks.

So for Jiri Vesely, this is definitely an acceptable draw that should get him through to the second round. However, he would most likely face world No. 7 Matteo Berrettini.

So what to bet on? Jiri Vesely, whose great strength is his excellent serve, should confirm his role as the paper favourite. Kozlov is not in an ideal state of mind, so his Grand Slam debut should not last long.