Flavio Cobolli vs Karen Khachanov Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Mutua Madrid Open

Prediction published on 28/04/2024, 14:34  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 28/04/2024 at 15:35 in ATP Mutua Madrid Open Predictions

Karen Khachanov looks like having two Italians standing between him and the Madrid Masters quarter-finals. The 16th seed takes on unseeded Flavio Cobolli in round three of this outdoor clay court tournament. In the last 16, the scheduled opponent is either unseeded Pavel Kotov or top seed Jannik Sinner. Khachanov is 19th in the live rankings but was 17th in the last published list. He's dropped down the rankings as he's defending the points when reaching the quarter-finals here last year. The Russian had a tough opening match in this tournament and had to come from behind to get past Roberto Bautista Agut. Before this tournament his only clay court event had been in Monte Carlo. He beat Daniil Medvedev on his way to the last eight where he was beaten by eventual champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Flavio Cobolli has beaten his career high this week and is up to 57th in the live list. Last week saw him lose in straight sets to Rafael Nadal and before that failed to qualify for the main draw of the Monte Carlo Masters. A win here will take him into his second last 16 on clay this year. He got to that stage in Marrakech but only beat a wild card who wasn't in the top 200. This week has been a struggle for him with both his wins being in three-sets. Round one saw him have to win the last two sets to get past Alejandro Tabilo. That took him into a match against the 22nd seed Nicolas Jarry, winniing in three after dropping the second. We tip Khachanov to win through to the next round.