Qualifiers Alexei Popyrin and Roman Safiullin will face off in the third round of the 2023 ATP Rome Open on Sunday, May 14. Get the predictions and odds of this Alexei Popyrin v Roman Safiullin match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Alexei Popyrin v Roman Safiullin Head to Head
There has been one previous meeting between the 77th-ranked Popyrin and the world number 103 Safiullin. Safiullin had won that in the indoor courts of Marseille Open.
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Popyrin Stuns Auger-Aliassime
With Felix Auger-Aliassime in a bit of a form strife in recent times, one would have expected him to take his time in his second round match against Alexei Popyrin. Did anyone expect Popyrin to overcome Auger-Aliassime though? Highly unlikely.
That’s what happened though as Popyrin followed up his first round victory over Christopher O’Connell with a narrow win against Auger-Aliassime.
The match went on for three hours and 18 minutes with Popyrin putting up a brave front but at the same time, Auger-Aliassime showing he wouldn’t go away without a fight. That’s how the Canadian managed to save 13 of the 16 break-points he faced, including two at 0-40, 5-5 in the final set.
It was off the 16th break-point that Popyrin got he managed to get past Auger-Aliassime and then served it out to love to scoop up the encounter.
Can he continue that run against a fellow qualifier now?
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Safiullin Stuns Sebastian
Sebastian Korda hasn’t had a lot of tennis under his belt because of an injury and Safiullin took full advantage of the American’s rustiness in their second round encounter.
Safiullin needed an hour and 46 minutes to register a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win and make it to the third round for the second tournament in a row. He had done something similar in Madrid too, as he made it past Nicolas Jarry and Marcos Giron in that tournament as a qualifier.
The first set was more or less one-way traffic in favour of Safiullin as Korda tried to adjust to clay and for a while it looked like the match was going to be over in a jiffy when the Russian went 4-1 ahead in the second set too.
Korda broke back twice to push the set into a tie-breaker but that’s where the fight ended.
Safiullin will now hope to better his record from Madrid.
Popyrin v Safiullin Prediction and Tip
While Popyrin starts off a 4/5 favourite we will be taking a contrarian view and backing Safiullin here given his Madrid experience.
Tips:
- Low Risk Tip: Under 23.5 games in the match: 4/5
- Moderate Risk Tip: Safiullin to win: 1/1
The 2023 ATP Rome Open will be played from May 9 to 21. 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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