Alexander Zverev vs Novak Djokovic Prediction & Betting Tips - Cincinnati, USA

Prediction published on 19/08/2023, 05:11  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 19/08/2023 at 11:40 in Tennis Predictions

Novak Djokovic attempts to reach his eigth final in Cincinnati. The second seed takes on 16th seeded Alexander Zverev with the winner facing either Carlos Alcaraz or Hubert Hurkacz. Djokovic has won this title twice, most recently in 2020, the last time he played this event. Only one match has been lost by him in this outdoor hard court event in his past three visits. The Serb could end this week world number one if he wins the title and Carlos Alcaraz loses his semi-final. Djokovic has won three titles this year and two have been on this surface, including the Australian Open. This is his first tournament since losing the Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz. He's yet to drop a set in this tournament and in the last eight defeated ninth seed Taylor Fritz for the loss of four games, all in the second set. He leads Zverev 7-4 in previous meetings and is 4-1 up in outdoor hard court matches.

Zverev has in fact won two of his last three matches against Djokovic. Their last match was at the end of 2021 and since then the German has had major injury problems. He was injured in the 2022 French Open and hasn't been able to regain his top ten ranking. Zverev began this tournament ranked 17th but is up to 12th in the live rankings. The 26-year-old has won one title this year but that was on clay. On hard courts, Zverev has reached one previous semi-final this year. That was in Dubai but no top 40 players were beaten to get that far. He hadn't beaten a top ten ranked player this year until knocking out third seeded Daniil Medvedev in the last 16. He followed that up with a straight sets win over unseeded Adrian Mannarino in the last eight. We go for Djokovic to win this match.