Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs Aleksandar Vukic Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Vukic the value pick in Washington opener

After a breakout season last year, Mpetshi Perricard has only managed to win nine tour-level matches in 2025 - and three of them came in his first tournament of the season. Vukic meanwhile hit a career-high ranking of No. 45 in 2023, but comes into this clash ranked outside the top 100 after winning just six tour-level matches for the year - and half of them came during the Australian summer in January.

Suffice to say it's a must-win clash for both players at an ATP 500 tournament where more ranking points are up for grabs. I've got a rule when it comes to the big-serving Mpetshi Perricard and it's simply to back whoever is the underdog. The Frenchman's massive delivery means more often than not his matches are a lottery of tiebreaks, so Vukic represents the value in the H2H market at $2.40, while we'll also be backing Over 23.5 total games, which would cover any three-set result and a straight sets score such as 7-5 7-5 or some tiebreaks.

This will be the first tour-level meeting, but Mpetshi Perricard leads 1-0 after prevailing 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the opening round of Queen's Club qualifying last year in a match that surprisingly featured zero tiebreaks on the grass.

Mpetshi Perricard has registered a disappointing 9-14 record at tour-level this season, failing to improve on a career-high ranking of No. 29 that was earned due to some stellar results last year.

The 22-year-old is defending 500 ranking points towards the end of the year after winning the Basel title in 2024, which would see him in danger of crashing out of the top 100 if he were to lose in the opening round and continue on his current poor form.

All signs pointed to Mpetshi Perricard continuing his rapid rise up the rankings as he launched 2025 with a semi-final run in Brisbane.

However, the Frenchman has won just six matches since - and he suffered a heartbreaking five-set defeat to World No. 4 Taylor Fritz in his most-recent event at Wimbledon in the opening round.

Vukic has endured an even tougher season, coming into this contest with a 6-17 record at tour-level and falling to No. 105 in the world.

Likewise, it was looking like Vukic was going to be in for a great year after he reached the third round of the Australian Open for the first time, defeating Damir Dzumhur and Sebastian Korda in five sets before falling to Jack Draper in a fifth-set tiebreak.

The Aussie hasn't been able to get back to that sort of form at any stage throughout the year, benefitting from a great draw to win his Wimbledon first round over Chun-Hsin Tseng before copping a beatdown from eventual champion Jannik Sinner.

Vukic has failed to win a match so far in Washington, going 0-2 after opening exits to Brandon Nakashima and compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis in 2023 and 2024 respectively.