Mubadala Citi DC Open Betting Preview: Marcos Giron vs. Jaume Munar

On Tuesday, July 22, Jaume Munar and Marcos Giron will meet in the first round at the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Munar has been extremely impressive this season. The Spaniard clearly worked hard to add power to his game—which is plainly visible when the Rafa Nadal Academy alum goes sleeveless like his idol. However, it is a little hard to ignore his subpar history on hard courts, especially considering Giron prefers this surface. So, I like the idea of playing the American on the moneyline.

Munar doesn’t just look bigger this year; he’s playing bigger. The Spaniard’s hold percentage is up at 81.5%, which is crazy considering it has never been higher than 74.7%. Munar has also been a little more aggressive from the baseline, and he’s having a much easier time finishing points. However, Munar is still just 9-11 on hard courts over the last 52 weeks. He’s also a miserable 29-59 on the surface throughout his career.

Giron is 18-15 on hard courts over the last 52 weeks, and he has 54 more wins on the surface than Munar does at the ATP level. Giron has always enjoyed playing on hard, where he knows how to defend at a high level. But he’s also good about finding opportunities to blast forehands—even when he’s on the move.

Munar is a great defender himself. That’s part of the reason he has been such a tough opponent throughout his career. But the Spaniard definitely likes to slide quite a bit, and he loses some of his elite mobility in the transition to this surface.

Realistically, there are plenty of spots in which Munar would be the right call over Giron, but this isn’t one of them. It’ll take a flawless serving performance from Munar to get by the American on this surface, and that’s especially true with this tournament taking place in DC.

Pick: Giron ML (-120)