Alexei Popyrin vs Karen Khachanov Prediction & Betting Tips - Tokyo, Japan

Prediction published on 15/10/2023, 12:00  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 16/10/2023 at 16:35 in Tennis Predictions

Seventh seed Karen Khachanov faces unseeded Alexei Popyrin in the Japan Open first round. The winner faces either wildcard Shintaro Shimabukuro or qualifier Cristian Garin. Khachanov is 15th in the live rankings and a place higher in the ATP Race. The Russian lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of the Shanghai Masters last week. Last month saw him win the ATP 250 tournament held in Zhuhai but his year has been affected by injury. That's why he won't be in the end-of-season finals. After reaching the last eight at Roland Garros in May, he didn't play again until the US Open in late August. Earlier in the year he got to the semi-finals of the Australian Open which was a hard court tournament as is this event.

Alexei Popyrin is 41st in the live listings and 37th in the ATP Race. The Australian will be hoping for a longer run than in Shanghai last week. He won the first set of his round one match against Matteo Arnaldi but ended up the loser. That continued his recent poor run and was his fourth straight defeat since making it to the last eight in Cincinnati. His only title win of this year was on clay in Umag and he also reached the last eight in Rome. A win over Khachanov will be his first success against the Russian. Two previous matches (both on hard courts) have ended in victory for Khachanov, though both did go a final set. We tip Khachanov to get another win here.