Roberto Carballes Baena vs Alex De Minaur Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Italian Open

Prediction published on 10/05/2024, 03:19  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 11/05/2024 at 15:50 in ATP Italian Open Prediction

Alex de Minaur bids to reach the third round of the Italian Open for just the second time in his career. He's seeded ninth for this outdoor clay court tournament and faces unseeded Roberto Carballes Baena. The prize for the winner is a third round match against either 18th seed Feliix Auger-Aliassime (who reached the Madrid final last week) or the qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp. De Minaur is 11th in the rankings but eighth in the Live ATP Race. He has had a good year on hard courts and made steady progress on clay. The Australian made it to the last eight in Monte Carlo and has had a win and a loss against Rafael Nadal. He beat him in Barcelona but lost to the Spaniard in his most recent tournament in Madrid. Now he takes on another Spanish player hoping to get back on track.

Roberto Carballes Baena has already beaten one Australian this week. He's up to 61st in the live rankings after beating Christopher O'Connell in round one. He won the first set and his opponent retired when 5-0 down in the second. Baena is up to 55th in the ATP Live Race after that victory. He's been busy on clay this year after taking part in the South American clay court swing. That didn't go well though with four of his five matches being lost. He showed improvement in Marrakech where he was defending the title he won last year. This time around he lost in the final to Matteo Berrettini but didn't beat any top 40 ranked players. He got to the last 16 in Barcelona but only the second round in Madrid. We tip de Minaur to win this match.