Zizou Bergs vs Rafael Nadal Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Italian Open

Prediction published on 08/05/2024, 07:07  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 08/05/2024 at 08:07 in ATP Italian Open Predictions

Roland Garros is geting ever closer and Rafael Nadal is looking to get more matches under his belt in Rome. He takes on qualifier Zizou Bergs in the first round of the Italian Open outdoor clay court tournament. The winner will have a tough match against seventh seeded Hubert Hurkacz in the second round of this Masters events. Nadal is back in the top 300 as he's 286th in the live rankings. That doesn't matter too much fo the Spanish legend as he'll get into the French Open on a protected ranking as is the case in Rome. Nadal has made a good start to the European clay court swing and showed he can still be competitive as he approaches retirement. He reached the last 16 of the Madrid Maaters and that included a win over Alex de Minaur who had beaten him in his previous tournament. He's won the Italian Open on ten previous occasions, his last win coming in 2021.

Zizou Bergs is ranked 108th in the latest list and that was five places below his career high. A new one has been set this week though after making it to the first round in Rome. He's now 95th in the live rankings thanks to wins over Patrick Kypson (after losing the first set) and a straight sets win over Shang Juncheng. The Belgian reached the second round in Houston this year, losing in three sets to eventual champion Ben Shelton. On the Challenger Tour, Bergs reached one clay court final this year in Sarasota and then won the title in Tallahassee but didn't beat any top 200 ranked players. His last ATP Tour clay court event was in Madrid where he lost in the first round. We tip Nadal to win this in straight sets.