Alexander Zverev vs Andrey Rublev Prediction: Betting on Rublev's second career win over Zverev

In the first semifinal of the tennis tournament in Dubai, Alexander Zverev will face Andrey Rublev. The two men know each other very well, having played six times on the Tour, and the German has a slight advantage and is the odds-on favorite.

Alexander failed at the Australian Open, dropping out of the tournament after the second round from American Mmoh. The German then played two Davis Cup matches for his national team, two at a tournament in Rotterdam and one in Doha. Failure after failure, but so far, Zverev is doing well in Dubai, winning three games and only losing one set to Lehecka in the first round. Aside from the Czech, Alexander knocked out O'Connell and Sonego. The match against the Italian lasted one hour and 53 minutes, with 7-5, 6-4.

Remember, Rublev is the reigning winner of the Dubai tournament, meaning he is comfortable with the local surface. We must also remind you that Rublev and Medvedev are still in an unofficial battle for the status of the first racket in their country. This suggests that Andrey is twice motivated for the tournament and the upcoming match in particular. Medvedev has an even tougher opponent in the semifinal than Rublev, so a win against the German would mean he could stay in the title race and have a small lead over his rival. Let's move on to Rublev's results at the tournament in Dubai. So Andrey had three matches - three wins, one lost a set to Davidovich Fokina, Rublev beat Krajinovic and Van de Zandschulp by a 2-0. The match against the Dutchman lasted almost two hours, 6-3, 7-6 in favor of Rublev.

Rublev and Zverev have played six times on the Tour, 5-1 to the German. Andrey beat Alexander on the Croatian clay, while Alexander beat the Russian four times on the hard court and once on the Monte Carlo clay. However, it's worth noting that the last face-to-face meeting was in August 2021, more than a year and a half since then.

The Dubai tournament is the first successful one for Zverev in a long time. Whereas Rublev has been constantly on the radar lately, it's not for nothing that the Russian has been in the top 10 of the ATP rankings for a long time. In addition, the tournament in the UAE is somewhat special for Rublev, as Andrey won it last season. The statistics do not favor Andrey, but we must point out that his last encounter was over a year and a half ago, and Rublev has become a much more consistent player since then. Zverev has been plagued by injury, and we doubt he will be at his best. We believe Rublev is somewhat underrated. Here are his odds for this match:

• W2 for 2.30;
• Handicap 2 (2.5) for 1.66;
• Correct score 1:2 for 4.33.

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