France’s Benoit Paire will face Portugal’s Nuno Borges at the 2023 Challenger Maia tennis event this weekend (clay/indoors). Borges will be looking to claim a title in his home country. He enters the match as the betting favorite to do so with Unibet pricing him at -205 to win the 2023 Maia Open’s championship match. My Paire vs Borges prediction is that the latter will win the match to claim the title.
Schedule of Play: Right-click/Open in the New Tab to check match times: subject to change
Benoit Paire vs Nuno Borges Head-to-Head Series
The Paire vs Borges h2h is at 0-0, meaning this will be their first encounter. Paire enters the match ranked 130th in the world while Borges is currently ranked 78th. Borges also enters the championship match as the younger player, which could have an impact on the final.
Paire had a routine win in the semifinals. But over the week, he has faced a couple of tough matches. At the age of 34, you can question whether he will be at his very best in the final. Meanwhile, Borges is in the final of a home-country event where he will have some extra drive and motivation in front of his fans.
The Draw: Right-click/Open in the New Tab for the draw for the 2023 Maia Open
Paire vs Borges Prediction: Borges to win
You have to like Paire in this match to an extent. He is the more talented player, having made the Top 20 in his career. Borges may yet rise in the rankings as he has some years ahead of him still. However, he certainly has never stood out on tour. Furthermore, there is no way Paire playing in a hostile environment will faze him at this point in his career. Any edge Borges has at the Maia Challenger is going to be minimal.
But Paire backers have to be worried about the French player’s energy levels going down in this match. It is the end of the tournament and Paire has never been a great closer.
Even when Paire was at his absolute best, he rarely won titles. He went just 3-6 in ATP finals, with none won since 2019. Even in doubles, Paire often ran out of gas in the late rounds. He went 1-3 in doubles finals and the one he won was with Stan Wawrinka.
Paire did win a clay-court challenger title in Italy back in July. But in that tournament, he had Richard Gasquet in the final, a player who is older than Paire. In Maia, he has drawn a player with much more youth and the late rounds often belong to the younger players. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paire won the first set in the Maia final but I think the back-end of his match will belong to Borges. I am going with him on the moneyline at odds of -205 (bet365).
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