Matteo Arnaldi vs Alexei Popyrin Prediction & Betting Tips - Brisbane International

Prediction published on 30/12/2024, 05:39  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 30/12/2024 at 06:39 in Tennis Predictions

Seventh seed Alexei Popyrin begins his ATP Brisbane International campaign.  In the first round, the Australian takes on unseeded Matteo Arnaldi for a place in the last 16 of this outdoor hard court tournament. Here's our match prediction.

Popyrin is the world number 24 and the winner of this match faces either qualifier Federico Augustin Gomez or unseeded Reilly Opelka in round two. Popyrin is just one place below the career-high that he achieved last August.

He moved up the rankings thanks to his winning the Rogers Cup in Montreal. That was followed up by a run to the last 16 of the US Open which included beating Novak Djokovic. His most recent tournament saw him get to the last 16 of the Paris Masters.

Matteo Arnaldi is ranked 37th but was a career-high 30th in August. The Italian had a disappointing end to last season with three successive defeats. The most recent of those was in his first match in the Paris Masters when being beaten by Holger Rune in the last 64.

He leads Popyrin 2-1 in previous meetings but their last match was in 2023. Popyrin has improved this year and we tip the Australian to win this match and move into round two.