Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs Matteo Arnaldi Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP National Bank Open

Prediction published on 08/08/2024, 16:56  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 08/08/2024 at 17:34 in Tennis Predictions

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had a big win over third seed Daniil Medvedev in the second round of the hard court Rogers Cup. He now faces Matteo Arnaldi for a place in the Montreal quarter-finals. Read on to discover our match prediction.

Fokina is the world number 42 hasn’t had the best of years and was outside the top 60 in the Live Race before this tournament. His form is good though with a recent quarter-final in Atlanta. He’s had victories over Russian pair Roman Safiullin and Daniil Medvedev this week. Fokina won the opening set, only won one game in the second but recovered to only lose two games in the decider.

He’s not climbing the rankings though. Fokina is defending the points earned when reaching the Rogers Cup semi-final last year. As a result, he’s 52nd in the live list and the same position in the Live Race. This is his first match against Arnaldi.

Both players are unseeded, and the winner will take on either Nuno Borges or Kei Nishikori in the last eight. They're both unseeded too so a player from outside the seeds will be in the semi-finals in Montreal. Arnaldi is ranked 46th and the 23-year-old is up to 40th in the live list.

He'd only won one of his last six matches before this tournament. That poor form was on grass and clay though and his return to hard courts has gone well. In 2024, Arnaldi has reached only one quarter-final this year and that was in January.

He made a slow start to this tournament and had to come from a set down to beat qualifier Mackenzie McDonald in round one. Thursday saw him spring a surprise as he knocked out the 15th seed Karen Khachanov in straight sets. We tip Fokina to win this match.