Alexander Zverev will face Jiri Lehecka in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships. The match will start on February 27 at 16:30 UK time.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #1 – Handicap (-1) for Lehecka – 1.792.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #2 – Total Games Under 25 – 1.72.
Bookmaker Ratings: Prediction #3 – 1st Set Games Under 9.5 – 2.15.
Zverev is no threat at the moment. Alexander has only one win in five games on the hard court this season. Obviously, the German tennis player is out of form, so we believe that Lehecka will be able to upset Zverev again this season in the upcoming encounter.
Zverev and Lehehka met earlier this season. The match took place in the United Cup and ended with a convincing win for the Czech player in two sets. Jiri dropped just six games in that game. We’re betting on a game-less total in this match.
The first two months since his return to the tour have not been easy for Zverev. In that time, he has never come close to taking the title. The German player spent the second half of last season recovering from an ankle operation. Zverev was injured in early June in a semi-final match against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros.
Moreover, the German tennis player has still not won at least two matches in a row this year.
Last week, Alexander lost straight away to Andy Murray (6-7, 6-2, 5-7) at Doha. In the first set, he twice led with a break, but he failed to use even that advantage.
In Rotterdam, Zverev lost to Tallon Griekspoor (6-4, 3-6, 4-6) after defeating Kwon Soon-woo (6-4, 7-6).
Zverev has lost three of his last five meetings against lower-ranked opponents.
Jiri, meanwhile, reached the semi-finals in Doha, which came as no surprise. This year, for the first time in his career, Jiri played in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, beating Cameron Norrie and Felix Auger Aliassime.
In the quarter-finals, Lehečka scored a strong win over Andrey Rublev (4-6, 6-4, 6-3).
Remarkably, his opponent did not have a single break point after the first set.
In the semi-finals, the 21-year-old lost to Andy Murray (0-6, 6-3, 6-7) in an absolutely epic match.
In the deciding set, Lehecka led twice with a break and missed five match points. It is still not very clear how Murray managed to recover.
Lehecka has picked up four wins in their previous five matches against heavily serving opponents.
Type of Court – Hard
Speed of Court – 8/10
Alexander Zverev’s Rating – 16
Alexander Zverev Wins/Losses in 2023 – 3/6
Jiri Lehecka’s Rating – 52
Jiri Lehecka Wins/Losses in 2023 – 13/4
In 3 of Lehechka’s last 5 matches, less than 9.5 games have been played in the first set. We offer to bet on “1st Set Games Under 9.5” with odds of 2.15.
Lehecka leads with a score of 1-0 in the head-to-head encounters. The only time they met was at the United Cup in January. In that match, Lehecka defeated Zverev (6-2, 6-4) in two sets.
The match will be played in Center Court, Aviation Club Tennis Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
We recommend checking out the odds for the Dubai Tennis Championships: Alexander Zverev vs Jiri Lehecka at 1xBet and VBET.