The seventh-ranked Casper Ruud will face the 70-th-ranked Max Purcell in the second round of the 2023 ATP Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday, August 16. Get the predictions and odds of this Casper Ruud v Max Purcell match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Casper Ruud v Max Purcell Head to Head
Their only previous meeting came at the 2018 US Open qualifiers and Ruud had won that in straight sets.
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Ruud Ranking Slides to Seventh
Ranked second in the world at the start of this season, Ruud’s under-par form – by his own lofty standards – has left him struggling on the rankings charts. He is now seventh in the world, having lost in the third round of the Canadian Masters last week.
Ruud, who had a first round bye there, overcame Jiri Leheka in the second round in Toronto in straight sets before being taken out by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The only consolation for Ruud was he fought on till the final set tie-breaker before going down to the Spaniard.
What that performance at the Canadian Masters meant was that Ruud now has won just six of the 13 hardcourt matches he’s played this season.
This comes on the back of a US Open 2022 final run which means he has a lot of points to defend and unless he can earn a few here in Cincinnati, he would need to finish strongly at the season’s final major to retain his ranking.
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Purcell Continues to Impress
Purcell was ranked 220th in the world at the start of the season. His performances through the lower levels of tennis have been sparkling enough to help him break new grounds this year, having hit a career-high of 62nd in June.
Since then he has been hovering around something similar on the ATP Rankings with a run of six defeats pulling back a little.
The Aussie looks to have rediscovered some of that rhythm now though.
At the Canadian Masters, he came through the qualifiers to enter the main draw where he stunned Felix Auger-Aliassime in the first round. A second round defeat to Andy Murray followed soon after.
Here in Cincinnati again, Purcell was forced to playing qualifying matches and he edged out fellow Alexei Popyrin to make the main draw. There he started out evens against Lloyd Harris but managed a 6-4, 6-4 win to advance to round two.
Given Ruud’s issues this season, Purcell will consider he has a chance here.
Ruud v Purcell Prediction and Tip
Ruud might start out a 1/4 favourite but we reckon this won’t be an easy one for him. With some luck, Purcell could even pull off a heist here.
Tips:
- High Risk Tip: Purcell to win: 9/4
- Moderate Risk Tip: Over 21.5 games in the match: 5/6
The 2023 ATP Cincinnati Open will be played from August 13 to 20. 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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