Toronto Betting Preview: Jenson Brooksby vs. Corentin Moutet

On Tuesday, July 29th, two unorthodox players will clash at the ATP's National Bank Open in Toronto, as Corentin Moutet, fresh off a semifinal run in Washington D.C., will take on Jenson Brooksby. This match has the potential to provide some early fireworks, as Moutet is one of the sport’s most clever shotmakers, and Brooksby is one of the best counterpunchers and problem solvers. However, in the end, I like the American to figure out a way to handle his possibly fatigued opponent.

This will be the first meeting between these two, so there’s no recent history to draw on. However, it’s hard not to like the stylistic battle for Brooksby. The American is just a wall along the baseline, so he’s going to keep rallies alive and ask a lot of questions of the Frenchman.

Moutet just played six matches at the Mubadala Citi DC Open: two in qualifying, before reaching the semifinals as a lucky loser. A physical match against Brooksby is probably the last thing he wants, especially after having picked up some minor injuries in the nation’s capital. We just saw Moutet struggle in a battle with Alex de Minaur, another high-effort, high-motor counter puncher, in the D.C. semis.

If Brooksby can keep his first-serve percentage high, he should come out on top. Although, after making only 51% of his first serves in his opening-round loss against Yoshihito Nishioka in D.C., that’s no given. So we’ll need to hope for the best there, but it’s worth noting that Brooksby did make at least 63% of his first serves in 13 of his previous 16 matches before D.C. That's part of the reason Brooksby is right on the cusp of returning to the Top 100.

Pick: Brooksby ML (-125)