Roman Safiullin vs Holger Rune Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Rotterdam

Prediction published on 12/02/2024, 16:12  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 12/02/2024 at 17:12 in Tennis Predictions

Third seed Holger Rune takes on unseeded Roman Safiullin in Rotterdam. This is the first round of the indoor hard court ABN AMRO Open which is an ATP 500 event. The winner here will face either Zhang Zhizhen or Alexander Shevchenkova in round two, both of whom are unseeded. Rune was ranked seventh at the start of this tournament but only 19th in the Live ATP Race. His last tournament was in Montpellier where he was the top seed. He lost to Borna Coric in the semi-finals when having to retire due to an arm injury. Before that, he had reached the final of the Brisbane International, losing to Grigor Dimitrov. He'd beaten Safiullin in straight sets in the last four. His only other tournament this year was the Australian Open in which he was beaten in round two.

Roman Safiullin is 39th in the world, just three places below his career high. He's up to 38th in the live rankings and beating Rune could see him equal his career high. The Russian won three matches in the Brisbane International including a win over Ben Shelton. He has only played the Australian Open since then and was beaten in five sets by Tallon Griekspoor in round one. He's only once made it past the second round of a Grand Slam, a quarter final on grass at Wimbledon last year. We tip Rune to get the victory in this match.