Matteo Berrettini vs Botic van de Zandschulp - Japan Open Tokyo Tennis Prediction and Pick 9/25/24

After an injury-ravaged start to 2024, Matteo Berrettini has got his season back on track. As of this week, Berrettini is now a Top 50 player again after compiling a 29-8 record for the season in all competitions. 

Berrettini has played in 12 tournaments this year and won three titles. He's also been a runner-up on two occasions. And in the absence of Jannik Sinner, he played an integral role in helping Italy secure its place in the Final 8 of the Davis Cup Finals over a week ago where he notched three singles wins. One of those was against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.

But despite his stellar record this season, the 28-year-old is only 5-4 on hard courts.

Botc van de Zandschulp is currently ranked a few spots from the Top 50 at No. 67 as he prepares to make his main draw debut at the Japan Open in Tokyo. van de Zandschulp is 34-27 for the season, and had to qualify for this ATP 500 tournament by beating Yosuke Watanuki and Berrettini's compatriot Luca Nardi.

The Dutchman had lost three of his last four matches before this week.

Matteo Berrettini vs Botic van de Zandschulp Head-To-Head

• Berrettini leads van de Zandschulp 3-0 in their head-to-head.

• In all three matches, the Italian has lost a combined one set which was at the Davis Cup Finals qualifiers this past week.

Matteo Berrettini vs Botic van de Zandschulp Prediction

van de Zandschulp has worked his socks off to get his ranking into two digits after falling outside the Top 100 during the clay swing. He's not struggling with confidence and knows at his best, he can challenge the ATP's best players (defeated Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open for his career-best win). Berrettini knows the Dutchman is a player who has the repertoire to neutralize his power with his wonderful use of slice. This should be another closer affair between them, but I'd expect Berrettini to overpower him in three sets.