World number four Casper Ruud will be up against the 71st-ranked Zhang Zhizhen in the third round of the 2023 French Open on Saturday, June 3. Get the predictions and odds of this Casper Ruud v Zhang Zhizhen match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Casper Ruud v Zhang Zhizhen Head to Head
Ruud and Zhizhen have never faced off in a competitive match before this.
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Ruud Needs Four Sets against Zeppieri
It went in 2022 finalist Ruud’s favour in the end but not before Giulio Zeppieri had given the Norwegian number one a run for his money in their second round encounter.
Ruud was a 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 winner over Zeppieri in a match lasting three hours and seven minutes to seal his place in the last 32.
Enduring nine aces and two breaks of serves against him, Ruud managed to find a way past his opponent with five breaks of his own. What was fascinating to watch was that Zeppieri earned himself a whopping 49 winners to Ruud’s 34 but the latter still came through because of his 28 unforced errors to his opponent’s 51.
Ruud hadn’t faced a lot of trouble in getting through his opener against Elias Ymer, beating him straight sets. He will hope to get back to those similar ways when he takes on a player who has never been ranked better than 69th in the world but was a Madrid Masters quarterfinalist.
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Zhizhen Ends Tirante’s Run
Thiago Tirante had entered the second after shocking Botic van de Zandschulp in his previous match and while he wasn’t the favourite coming into this one, he sure would have given himself a chance against Zhizhen.
As it turned out, the Chinese player ended Tirante’s run after the latter had given him a good working over in the first set.
In a match lasting two hours and 23 minutes, Zhizhen won 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. Before this he had never even won a match in the main draw of a major.
Zhang was broken once apiece in the first and second set but that didn’t change the narrative of the encounter. In the first set, it came when he was serving for the set at 5-4 while in the second he broke right back to end Tirante’s fight.
Can he now dish out something similar to Ruud?
Ruud v Zhizhen Prediction and Tip
No surprises who the favourite is but the bigger question is if Ruud can claim a straight-set win. We think he might struggle to do that.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Over 8.5 games in the first set: 1/2
- Moderate Risk Tip: Ruud to win AND Both players to win a set: 6/5
The 2023 French Open will be played from May 28 to June 11. You can get all the tennis betting news with our tennis betting blog here. Also get rest of the tennis match previews here.
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