Carlos Alcaraz vs Jan-Lennard Struff Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Mutua Madrid Open

Prediction published on 06/05/2023, 05:07  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 07/05/2023 at 04:30 in Tennis Predictions

Carlos Alcaraz bids to make it two clay court tournament wins in a row. The top seed takes on lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff in the final of the Madrid Masters. A win for Alcaraz will see him overtake Daniil Medvedev and go top of the ATP Live Race. He'll be just five points behind Novak Djokovic in the main ATP rankings. The Spaniard has won three titles this year and that's even though he didn't play his first tournament until mid-February. This is his sixth event of the year and he's reached at least the semi-final in all of them. Titles have been won on clay in Buenos Aires and Barcelona plus the hard court Indian Wells tournament. In Madrid, his quest to win another clay court title in his home country didn't get off to a good start. He lost the first set to Emil Ruusuvouri but only dropped six games in the next two. That set lost in the first round is the only one he has dropped on the way to this final.

He's beaten two seeds, namely Karen Khachanov and Borna Coric but has a surprising opponent in this final. Jan-Lennard Struff was the top seed in qualifying but lost to Aslan Karatsev. His tournament wasn't over though and he was put in the main draw as a lucky loser when Constant Lestienne withdrew. After an impressive first round win over Lorenzo Sonego, he ran into trouble when losing the first set to the 32nd seed Ben Shelton. Struff fought back well against the American but then had more problems in round three. Against Dusan Lajovic, he again had to come from behind to get the win. Another three-setter took place against Pedro Cachin in the last 16 but at least this time he won the first set. It was the same story in the last eight when beating fourth seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas. Then a familiar opponent was faced in the semi-finals. He took on Aslan Karatsev again and another loss looked possible when going a set down. This time he won the next two sets to reach the final and it's doing wonders for his ranking. The German has risen 37 places to 28th and will be 21st if winning this final. His run will come to an end here, go for Alacaraz to win in straight sets.