Alex De Minaur vs Aslan Karatsev Prediction & Betting Tips - Tokyo, Japan

Prediction published on 19/10/2023, 10:21  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 19/10/2023 at 21:00 in Tennis Predictions

Fourth seed Alex de Minaur faces unseeded Aslan Karatsev in the last eight of the Japan Open. After a week of shocks, de Minaur is the highest remaining seed in this hard court tournament. The winner of this match will face either unseeded Alexei Popyrin or wild card Shintaro Mochizuki for a place in the final. De Minaur was ranked 13th at the start of this tournament in Tokyo and can climb as high as 11th if winning the final. In the ATP Race, the Australian is also 13th and winning the Japan Open can see him close to within 105 points of the final ATP Tour Finals qualifying place. De Minaur had to come from behind to get past Jack Draper in the first round in Tokyo. Since then, he's beaten Diego Schwartzman for the loss of five games, all in the second set. 

Aslan Karatsev was ranked 50th at the start of the Japan Open. He's up to 45th in the live list and a win over de Minaur can see him climb as high as 39th. The 30-year-old is bidding to reach his second semi-final in recent weeks. He got to the last four in Zhuhai with wins over Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie before losing to Yoshihito Nishioka in the last four. Last week saw him lose in the first round of the Shanghai Masters but he's returned to form this week. Karatsev beat sixth seeded Frances Tiafoe without dropping a set in the first round and then defeated Zhang Zhizhen in straight sets. He's 1-1 in previous meetings with his opponent but his only win has come on clay. We go for Alex de Minaur to get a hard-fought win in this match.