Dominic Thiem vs Yannick Hanfmann Prediction & Betting Tips - Antwerp, Belgium

Prediction published on 18/10/2023, 08:07  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 19/10/2023 at 07:05 in Tennis Predictions

Fifth seed Yannick Hanfmann takes on unseeded Dominic Thiem for a place in the European Open quarter finals. The winner of this second round match could face top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last eight. Hanfmann is at 56th in the latest rankings and up a place in the live list. The first round of this hard court tournament saw the German beat qualifier Alexander Blockx in straight sets but he did lose ten games with the second set going to a tie-break. His best results this year have come on other surfaces but the same can be said for his opponent. Last week saw Hanfmann saw him lose to Christopher Eubanks in the Shanghai Masters second round. He's meeting Thiem for only the second time and won their one previous match. That was on clay last year and it went to a final set.

Dominic Thiem is 86th in the rankings and still struggling to get anywhere near the level he used to be at. Back in 2020 he was ranked third in the world but injuries saw him slide down the ranking list. He's been as low as 116th this year so is at least heading back in the right direction. The Austrian is playing his first ATP Tour event since the US Open where he lost in the second round. He retired in that match after losing the first set on a tie-break but did beat world number 27 Alexander Bublik in round one. Since that Grand Slam he's played two Challenger Tour events, reaching the last eight in Astana. The first round of this European Open saw him come from a set down to beat wild card Luca Nardi. We go for over 22.5 games to be played in this match.