A fascinating match up headlines the evening session of day nine at the ATP Rome Masters this Tuesday. No 6 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on No 9 seed Alex de Minaur for a place in the quarter-finals. With the Greek having dominated this fixture in the past, can he get past De Minaur one more time in Rome?
Tsitsipas has run hot and cold so far this week. His opening match against Jan-Lennard Struff was forgettable. The former world No 3 was inches away from losing the match, scraping his way in three ugly sets that saw some even uglier on-court behaviour from his end. Last round, however, Tsitsipas returned to business as usual, racing past Cam Norrie in straight sets.
De Minaur has also had a patchy campaign in Rome to date. His opening match was a clinical 6-3, 6-2 win over Roberto Carballes Baena. Most recently, however, he went the distance in a three-hour marathon with Felix Auger-Aliassime, coming back from a set down to limp into the round of 16.
Who will book their spot in the quarter-finals? We break down all the big talking points and give our Tsitsipas vs De Minaur prediction and betting tips ahead of this clash.
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How the Bookies View It: Nothing But Tsitsipas
Bookmakers aren’t giving De Minaur much of a chance in this clash. The Aussie pays 11/5 to win at bet365, while Tsitsipas is down at 4/11. Set betting sees a straight sets win to the Greek as the most likely outcome, with that paying an even 1/1.
Recent Head-to-Head: It Ain’t Good for De Minaur
The rivalry between Tsitsipas and De Minaur is one of the most fascinating on the ATP Tour. First of all, the pair have played an incredible 11 times. Secondly, Tsitsipas won the first 10 of their meetings. It wasn’t until this year that De Minaur claimed his first win in the head-to-head, edging Tsitsipas in three sets in Acapulco.
Anything Else Catch the Eye?
Obviously the head-to-head is a huge talking point in this match up. De Minaur will take confidence from the fact that he won their most recent meeting, but 10 consecutive losses prior is hard to dismiss. Particularly when eight of those were in straight sets.
We thought that there was a chance Tsitsipas would struggle against Norrie, given the alarming meltdown he had in his opening match against Struff. Was his break up with Paula Badosa feeding into his mental state? Turns out, the Greek managed to level the ship, and looked much, much better against Norrie.
De Minaur’s serve is, as expected, a real liability on clay. The Australian was only making 50 percent of first serves against Auger-Aliassime last round, and of these, winning just 70 percent of the time. An ugly 10-18 winner to unforced error ratio also meant that if De Minaur is to get a second win over Tsitsipas, he’ll need to improve markedly on Tuesday.
Tsitsipas vs De Minaur Betting Tips & Predictions
We see this fixture reverting to old ways. Tsitsipas is playing well in Rome, while De Minaur is patchy. It’ll take the Aussie at his best to get another win over Tsitsipas, and we simply don’t see that happening this week.
- Tsitsipas to win 2-0 @ 1/1
- Tsitsipas to win and under 21.5 games @ 6/4
Tsitsipas and De Minaur will take to Center Court not before 7pm local time, so get your bets in shortly if you’re looking to profit from these wagers.
In December 2020 we sadly 
