Alexander Zverev vs Pablo Carreño-Busta Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Cincinnati Open

Prediction published on 15/08/2024, 18:03  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 15/08/2024 at 18:09 in ATP Cincinnati Open Predictions

Round three of the Cincinnati Masters sees third seed Alexander Zverev take on unseeded Pablo Carreno Busta. This is an outdoor hard court tournament and Busta is having the best week since beginning his comeback. Here's our match prediction.

Busta had elbow surgery last year and didn't play his first match in 2024 until May at Roland Garros. The latest ranking list has him at 513rd but he gained entry into the main draw here by using his protected ranking.

Only one of his six matches had been won before arriving in Cincinnati. That came against Fabian Marozsan in Montreal last week but he then lost in straight sets to Holger Rune. This week has gone much better with wins over 16th seed Sebastian Korda and wild card Max Purcell.

Both were won in straight sets but he's now seeking his first win over Zverev. He's lost all three previous meetings and two were played on hard courts. Busta famously led Zverev two sets to love in the 2020 US Open but lost in five. Zverev has also reached the last 16 without dropping a set but has only played one match.

That was on Thursday when the German beat Karen Khachanov in straight sets, losing just five games. Zverev is fourth in the world rankings but a place higher in the ATP Race. The win over Khachanov was his 50th of the year.

Despite all those wins, he's only won one singles tournament this year and that was on clay in Rome. He is so consistent though with only one of his last seven tournaments seeing him fail to reach the quarter-finals.

A win here will take him into his sixth hard court quarter-final of the year. We tip Zverev to win this match in straight sets.