Novak Djokovic vs Lorenzo Musetti Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Monte Carlo Masters

Prediction published on 12/04/2023, 10:36  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 12/04/2023 at 11:36 in Tennis Predictions

Top seeded Novak Djokovic takes on unseeded Lorenzo Musetti in the Monte Carlo Masters third round. The winner of this match faces either seventh seeded Jannik Sinner or Hubert Hurkacz who is the tenth seed. Djokovic has won this title on two previous occasions but not since 2015 and hasn’t gotten past the last eight since. He does tend to be a bit vulnerable early in the European clay court season but moves up a gear by the time the Italian and French Opens are held. He hadn’t played since early March before beating qualifier Ivan Gakhov on Tuesday. That was won 7-6 6-2 and we can expect the world number one to improve as this tournament progresses. He leads Musetti 3-0 in previous meetings, including the famous win at Roland Garros two years ago when Djokovic lost the first two sets.

16th seeded Lorenzo Musetti will be a much stiffer task as he started this tournament ranked 21st. That’s three places below his career high ranking achieved in January. This is the Italian’s fourth clay court tournament of the year and his best performance has been a quarter final in Buenos Aires, though he only had to win one match to get that far and then lost to a player ranked outside the top 100. He then lost his first round matches in Rio and Santiago to players ranked well below him. Last week in Marrakech, Musetti beat Hugo Gaston but then lost to the world number 126 Alexandre Muller in the last eight. This week has gone well with wins over Miomir Kecmanovic and Luca Nardi After an opening tie-break against Kecmanovic, his next three sets have all been won without dropping a game. This is obviously tougher and Djokovic can win in straight sets.