Denis Shapovalov vs Gael Monfils Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Rotterdam

Prediction published on 12/02/2024, 15:10  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 13/02/2024 at 21:00 in Tennis Predictions

Qualifier Denis Shapovalov takes on the wild card Gael Monfils in the first round of the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam. The scheduled opponent in round two is either Botic van de Zandschulp or the top seed Jannik Sinner. Both these players have at one time in their career been ranked in the top 10. They've slipped down the rankings since then and Shapovalov began this tournament in 127th position so he had to win two qualifying matches to get into the main draw. The Canadian did that without dropping a set and losing only 13 games. Those two wins have taken him up to 118th in the live rankings. This year hasn't gone well and before the qualifiers he'd only won one of his five matches. That was a win over Hugo Gaston in Montpellier where he also took Alexander Bublik to three sets.

Gael Monfils was as high as sixth in the rankings but that was eight years ago. After time off court he dropped out of the top 300 but is up to 70th now. The Frenchman has also made a poor start to the new year. Only one of his four matches played in 2024 has been won. That was a win over Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of the Australian Open. His most recent tournament was in Montpellier but he lost in round one to Flavio Cobolli in three sets. These two players are 1-1 in previous meetings but they haven't had a match since 2020. This could be a close match and we go for three sets to be played.