Shevchenko - Kukushkin. ATP Almaty match forecast
Shevchenko and Kukushkin will meet in the first round of the tournament in Almaty on October 15. Shevchenko is having a difficult season, but despite this, he has demonstrated a good game on fast courts this year. In the first round, he will meet Kukushkin, who has only one face-to-face meeting left. Will Alexander be able to take revenge? - match analysis and bets are in our forecast.

Command Analysis

Alexander Shevchenko

Current form
Shevchenko managed to reach the third round at the recent Masters in Shanghai. He beat Ramkumar Ramanathan and Francisco Cherundolo in the tournament, but in the third round he lost to Yakub Menshik. On indoor hard courts this season, Alexander has five wins and three losses.
Professional qualities
Shevchenko can be considered a clay court specialist, but recently he has been increasingly participating in fast court tournaments and has shown good results. Alexander feels confident on the back line, loading his opponents with powerful spin shots from both sides. His main strength is his movement around the court.
Current indicators in the tour
Shevchenko, despite his relatively short career, has already managed to win seven titles at challenger tournaments. However, there are no victories on indoor courts among them, even at the futures level. This season, Alexander has not won a single title. At the moment, he is ranked 61st in the world rankings.
Interesting facts for betting
Shevchenko has lost 10 of his last 14 fights.

Mikhail Kukushkin

Current form
Kukushkin made his way to the main draw of the competition in Almaty through the qualification. In the selection, Mikhail won two convincing victories - he beat Humayun Sultanov in two sets, then he also dealt with Alibek Kachmazov in two sets. Indoors, the representative of Kazakhstan has nine victories and four defeats this year.
Professional qualities
Kukushkin is already 36 years old, but he still retains his best qualities, which helped him achieve significant success in his career. The tennis player from Kazakhstan has a high level of tactical literacy. Although Mikhail can no longer maintain the same speed during matches, his excellent vision of the court and a well-built strategy allow him to find himself in the right position in a timely manner and save energy depending on the situation.
Current indicators in the tour
Kukushkin is currently ranked 109th in the world. Mikhail has significant experience playing on indoor courts, and one of the highlights of his career was the title at the Challenger in Astana in 2015. This season, the representative of Kazakhstan won two titles - he won the Challengers in Manama and Tenerife.
Interesting facts for betting
Kukushkin last eight matches have ended in straight sets.
Trends
Rate Set Result: 1>2
In 3 of Shevchenko last 5 matches, events on the court have unfolded according to this scenario
2.31Bet Tie-break in the match - no
This bet played in Kukushkin five previous matches
1.78Tip and bets
The tennis players have already met each other this season. Their face-to-face match took place within the framework of the tournament in Hangzhou and in that match Kukushkin celebrated the victory in two sets. Experience is certainly on Mikhail side in this pair and, as it seems to us, he will be able to upset Shevchenko again.
Our prediction is Kukushkin victory with odds of 2.21
Bet on total
We expect the upcoming match to be a struggle. Both Shevchenko and Kukushkin are currently in approximately equal playing conditions. Most likely, everything will be decided in three sets in this pair.
The second forecast is total over 22 games for odds of 1.83
Bet on the first set
Four of Kukushkin last five matches have seen more than 9.5 games played in the first set. We expect that Mikhail upcoming match against Shevchenko will also start with a "top" first set.
Forecast - total over 9.5 games in the first set for odds of 1.66