Botic Van De Zandschulp vs Andrey Rublev Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Dubai Open

Prediction published on 02/03/2023, 02:43  by Kennedy Kechula | Modified on 02/03/2023 at 06:56 in Tennis Predictions

Second seed Andrey Rublev and world number 33 Botic Van De Zandschulp will on Thursday face off in the quarter finals of the Dubai Open on an outdoor hard court. The two players have met each other twice before and on both occasions, Van De Zandschulp has been the victor. Rublev is having a slow start to the year and has won back-to-back matches just twice this season. He beat unseeded players Filip Krajinovic (2-0) and Alejandro Fokina (2-1) in the first and second rounds respectively to make the last eight here in Dubai. The only other successive wins for the Russian in 2023 came at the Australian Open where he won four straight matches and made it to the quarterfinals. This is the fifth time that Rublev has made it to the quarterfinals in Dubai and last year, he went all the way to win the title, will he do it again this year? His start to the season suggests otherwise. A win over Van De Zandschulp won’t see him make any movement in the live ranking but will see him get back into the top 10 in the live race standings.

Botic Van De Zandschulp has also struggled to string together wins this season and has won multiple matches in a row just twice. He has however not been able to win more than two in succession. He beat lucky loser Francesco Passaro by straight sets in the first round before coming back from dropping the first set against Mikael Ymer to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round. He will be pleased by his debut performance in Dubai and advancing to the semi finals can have him rise to a season-high 31st in the live ranking.