Dušan Lajović vs Andrey Rublev Prediction & Betting Tips - Belgrade, Serbia, Qualifying

Prediction published on 23/04/2023, 05:08  by Daniel Ngulu in Tennis Predictions

Second seed Andrey Rublev and the unseeded Dusan Lajovic will on Sunday contest the final of the inaugural Srpska Open. This latest meeting, a third encounter between the two, will be played on clay, just like in the previous two, and Lajovic will be confident of making it three straight victories against Rublev. The last match between them was back in 2019 in the second round of the Croatia Open where Lajovic went all the way to win his first-ever tour title. The Serbian number three is now preparing for this third career tour final and the first since the success in Umag. He has had a more impressive surge to the final than Rublev as he has gotten the better of two top-five-seeded players in Novak Djokovic (top seed) and Miomir Kecmanovic (fourth seed). His win over Djokovic is a highlight of his career as he defeated the world number one in straight sets in the quarterfinals. This should strengthen his belief that he can get the win over Rublev. His performance in Banja Luka is the highlight of a topsy-turvy season so far for the Serb who started the competition ranked 70th in the world but is now up to 46th in the live ranking.

Andrey Rublev is in his 20th tour final of his career and the third this year. He lost in Dubai but made up for that by winning his 13th career title with his success in Monte-Carlo. His experience at the top level should see him claim Sunday’s final but it will not be a walk in the park as he faces off against a player who is equally as comfortable as him on clay and who has defeated him twice already on the surface. The world number six has played 29 matches this season with 21 of those ending in victory including eight coming on clay. As a seeded player, he began the tournament in the second round and has won his three matches without dropping a set. He defeated Alex Molcan in the semifinals, taking one hour and 29 minutes to get the job done which is one hour and 30 minutes less than the time Lajovic took to win his semifinal matchup. This should give him an added advantage for the final as he will be the fresher of the two.