Alex De Minaur vs Mackenzie Mcdonald Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Rotterdam

Prediction published on 08/02/2022, 10:18  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 08/02/2022 at 11:18 in Tennis Predictions

Alex de Minaur was impressive in the first round of this Rotterdam tournament. The world number 34 takes on Mackenzie McDonald in the second round with Stefanos Tsitispas a possible quarter final opponent. It's been a decent start to the year for de Minaur. Last June he won the Eastbourne grass event in England but failed to reach a quarter final in the following six months. 2022 began with two wins out of three playing for Australia in the ATP Cup. That included a win over Matteo Berrettini but defeat by Daniil Medvedev. In the Australian Open, de Minaur made it to the last 16 but then lost in straight sets to Jannik Sinner. This week has seen him up against David Goffin in the first round. He beat the out-of-form Belgian for the loss of just three games. His only appearance in this event saw him lose in the second round last year. He's won six out of eight matches this year though so will be difficult to beat here.

Mackenzie McDonald has continued his climb up the world rankings. The latest list published this week has him up to 49th, his highest ever ranking. This time last year he was only 194th so it's been a breakthrough 12 months for the American. Like his opponent though, his form did dip a little bit in the latter months of the year. McDonald didn't have the best of times in Australia at the start of 2022. He played three tournaments winning two out of five matches and not beating an opponent ranked in the top 80. In Montpellier last week, he beat Ilya Ivashka but then lost in straight sets to world number three Alexander Zverev. The first round in Rotterdam saw McDonald beat the eighth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili for the loss of just five games. A good but Basilashvili has lost all five of his matches this year. He's had two previous meetings with de Minaur and lost them both, the most recent being in 2018. Back de Minaur to get the win here.