Casper Ruud vs Alexander Zverev Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP French Open

Prediction published on 08/06/2023, 06:00  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 09/06/2023 at 06:41 in Tennis Predictions

Fourth seeded Casper Ruud bids to reach his second successive Roland Garros final. He faces the 22nd seeded Alexander Zverev with the winner up against either Carlos Alcaraz or Novak Djokovic in the final. Ruud began this tournament ranked fourth but is a place lower in the live rankings. A win over Zverev will take him back up to fourth place. Ruud has already won one clay court tournament this season. That was in Estoril where he beat Miomir Kecmanovic in the final. He didn't get past the last 16 in his next three clay court tournaments but then got to the last four in Rome. He's lost three sets on his way to this semi-final. The most recent came in his quarter-final success over sixth seeded Holger Rune. He lost the third set but only dropped six games in the three sets that he won. Ruud trails Zverev 3-1 in previous meetings. He lost the first three (one via a walkover) but won the most recent match in Miami last year. This is the first time that the pair have met in a clay court tournament.

Alexander Zverev is hoping for third time lucky at Roland Garros. The past two years have seen him lose at this stage. Last year was a frustrating loss to Rafa Nadal as he suffered a serious injury and had to retire. That kept him off the ATP Tour for a fair while before being fit to play again. It's taken a while for him to get back into his stride with four last 16 defeats on clay. He finally got past that stage when reaching the last four in Geneva. Back at Roland Garros he has continued his return to form. He's only dropped two sets so far in this tournament. One to the 12th seed Frances Tiafoe and the other in his quarter-final against  unseeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry. This looks like being a closely fought semi-final but we go for Ruud to get the win.