Dušan Lajović vs Casper Ruud Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Mutua Madrid Open

Prediction published on 03/05/2022, 06:23  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 03/05/2022 at 08:46 in Tennis Predictions

Fifth seeded Casper Ruud takes on qualifier Dusan Lajovic in the Madrid Masters second round. Ruud is world ranked seventh which is a place higher than at the start of the year. 2022 began with Ruud playing for Denmark in the ATP Cup. He won two of his three matches and the first was a straight sets win over Lajovic. Rudd didn't play in the Australian Open but then headed to South America for their clay court tournaments. He got off to a flying start by winning the Buenos Aries tournament, defeating Diego Schwartzmann in the final. Ruud reached another final in early April as he lost to Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells. He beat Alexander Zverev and Cameron Norrie on his way to the title decider. He's played three tournaments on the 2022 European clay court season with a best performance of reaching the last eight in both Barcelona and last week's event in Munich.

Dusan Lajovic began the week ranked 77th in the world. That's a big drop from the 33th place the 31-year-old began the year in. Lajovic slumped 28 places in a week in mid-April as he lost the points earned for reaching the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters. The Serb has had a disappointing year so far and before this tournament, he'd won only five of his 18 matches played on the ATP Tour. He's failed to get past the last 16 of any event that he has played this year. On clay, the Serb has won only one of his three matches played in South America. Back in Europe, Lajovic had lost three out of four matches played in Monte Carlo, Belgrade and Estoril. He has showed some better form this week and had to win a couple of matches to reach the main draw. The first round saw him defeat Borna Coric in three sets, losing the middle set. Go for Ruud to progress to the third round with a straight sets win.