Sebastian Baez v Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera Betting Tips [10 February 2023]

Fourth seed Sebastian Baez and wildcard Marcelo Vera will face off in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Cordoba Open on Friday. The match will be played on an outdoor clay court with the winner progressing to their first semifinal in the ATP 250 tournament. Baez has won all three previous meetings with Vera including in the final of the Challenger Santiago in 2021. He won his first ATP title in 2022 at the Estoril Open and reached a further two finals in the year, all on clay. His success that year saw him reach his highest-ever ranking of 31 but his start to the new season has not been anywhere close as he has won just one match thus far. The Argentine number three suffered early exits in Pune, Auckland and Melbourne with his only win being the 2-0 win over the qualifier Luciano Darderi to advance to this round. Baez was eliminated in the last eight in last year’s tournament by eventual finalist Alejandro Tabilo and will be keen not to suffer the same fate against another Chilean. He is up to 41st in the live ranking and can move up to 37th with a win which will see him close the gap on Francisco Cerundolo (31) and Diego Schwartzman (32) in the race to become Argentina’s number one.

Marcelo Vera is ranked 165 places below Baez but comes to this match fairing much better than his Argentine opponent in the season. The Chilean has won seven matches and reached the final of the Challenger Piracicaba. In Cordoba, he has already gotten the better of a seeded player, winning 2-1 against eighth seed Bernabe Miralles to advance to this round. He beat world number 83 Daniel Elahi Galan in the first round. Vera is up to 195th in the live ranking and can move up a further 24 places by claiming his first win over Baez.

Despite being the seeded and higher-ranked player (165 places), Sebastien Baez’s form has been horrible which will give Marcelo Vera the belief that he can get his first win against the Argentine. Vera has already defeated a seeded player in Cordoba and we believe he will follow that up with another win here. Our prediction for the Sebastian Baez vs Marcelo Tomas Vera clash is therefore a straight-sets victory for Vera.