Stefano Napolitano vs Maximilian Marterer Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Italian Open

Prediction published on 09/05/2023, 04:49  by Daniel Ngulu in Tennis Predictions

Maximilian Marterer, who is unseeded, will hope to reach the main draw of the Italian Open on his debut when he takes on wildcard Stefanos Napolitano in the final qualifying round on Tuesday on an outdoor clay court. The two players have met once before, back in 2014 in the ITF Circuit. Though this was quite a long time ago to have any significance in this latest clash, Napolitano will hope for the same outcome and advance to the main draw for only the second time in his third appearance. The Italian made it through to the main draw in his last appearance here which was back in 2017. He beat eighth seed Alexander Kovacevic in straight sets in the first round to register his 12th win of the season from 19 matches played. Half of those victories have come on clay and he will be highly confident of getting the better of Marterer despite being ranked more than 400 places below him in the official ATP world ranking. Napolitano is currently ranked 512th in the live rankings.

Maximilian Marterer’s win over 19th seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the first round, also by straight sets, has lifted him up four places in the live ranking to 144th and he will want to add to this as he targets getting back into at least the top 100. The German has struggled with consistency and arrived in Rome with a losing record. He has however now won the same number of matches (11) as he has lost. He began his clay court season by losing his first two matches with the win over Carabelli, his first on the surface. Marterer isn’t a great performer on clay but will hope his winning start enables him make his debut here that much more memorable.