Holger Rune vs Christopher O'Connell Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Munich Open

Prediction published on 22/04/2023, 03:20  by Daniel Ngulu in Tennis Predictions

Top seed Holger Rune is just two wins away from defending his BMW Open title and will on Saturday set out to make this a reality when he faces off with the unseeded Cristopher O’Connell on an outdoor clay court. The two players have never met before on a tennis court so this might be a tricky affair for Rune, who if he wins, will set up a repeat of last year’s final with fourth seed Botic Van De Zanschulp (fourth seed) or renew his rivalry with second seed Taylor Fritz. Rune is having a decent season and has already made one final (Monte-Carlo) but lost to Andrey Rublev. He has used the momentum gained from that tournament to steamroll his opponents in Munich and has won his two matches without dropping a set. The Dane has won 19 of the 27 matches he has played so far this season with five of those victories coming on clay, a surface that he is superior on. His performances have seen him get back into the world’s top 10 after falling out at the tail end of last season and is currently ranked seventh which is a new career high for him.

Christopher O’Connell is making his debut in Munich and so far so good for the Australian. Being unseeded saw O’Connell start his tournament in the first round and has therefore played one more match than Rune. This could end up being the defining factor in this clash as he was also on the court for almost an hour more than Rune in the previous round. This however doesn’t take away from what he has achieved here with his highlight performance coming in the second round where he defeated third seed and crowd favourite Alexander Zverev in straight sets. He dropped his first set (middle set) of the tournament in the quarterfinals against the qualifier Flavio Cobolli. The current world number 82 is preparing to play in only his second ATP career semifinal and first on clay which is his highlight of the season so far. He has had a topsy-turvy campaign as he has won just three more matches than he has lost. However, a 17th win of the season will catapult him a massive 15 places up the live ranking to number 67 which will be a new career high.