Alexander Shevchenko vs Karen Khachanov Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Italian Open

Prediction published on 09/05/2024, 06:34  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 09/05/2024 at 07:34 in ATP Italian Open Predictions

16th seed Karen Khachanov bids to reach round three of the Italian Open for the third successive year. He takes on unseeded Alexander Shevchenko with the winner facing either 20th seed Francisco Cerundolo or an Italian wild card in round three. This is an outdoor clay court tournament and Khachanov has made a consistent start to his clay court season with a quarter-final in Monte Carlo and a last 16 appearance in Barcelona where he took Jannik Sinner to a final set. The Russian will be out for revenge on his opponent. Their only previous meeting was last year with Shevchenko winning but that was played on an indoor hard court. Khachanov is 18th in the rankings and a place lower in the Live ATP Race with one hard court title won this year. He's twice reached the last eight at Roland Garros, the most recent time being in 2023. 

Alexander Shevchenko had a comfortable first round win over Fabian Marozsan on Wednesday. That took him to 59th in the live rankings but he's ten places below that in the Live ATP Race. He's playing this Masters tournament for the second time and got to round three last year. That was despite only being in the main draw as a lucky loser after being beaten in the qualifying rounds. Shevchenko lost his first three matches played on clay this year. He finally got a win in Madrid but then won just three games when losing to Carlos Alcaraz. His early loss saw him play in the Challenger Tour event held in Aix-en-Provence but he lost in his second match to Facundo Bagnis who was ranked 136th at the time. We tip Khachanov to win this match.