Novak Djokovic vs Aleksandr Dolgopolov Tennis Prediction
Novak Djokovic leads the H2H 5-0. Though Dolgopolov is an extremely talented player who has won two ATP Tour titles on this surface (Umag and Buenos Aires), his current struggles give Novak Djokovic an excellent opportunity to score a confidence-boosting win comprehensively.
Novak Djokovic News
Novak Djokovic’s search for a confidence-boosting run in a tournament continues as he suffered yet another disappointing defeat, this time at the hands of Kyle Edmund in the second round of Madrid Masters last week.
Uncharacteristically, Novak Djokovic was the second best during the crucial points, including missing out on three break points in the deciding set (at *2-2 0-40) which proved to be decisive in the outcome of the match, 3-6 6-2 3-6.
Novak Djokovic, who ruled out a potential reunion with Boris Becker, added ‘Nobody is forcing me to play this sport. I’m doing it because I like it, I want to do it. As long as I love the sport, I’ll keep going.’
Apart from failing in the qualifying stages of Rome Masters on his debut appearance in 2006, he has made at least the quarterfinal in all other ten visits. Additionally, this will only be his first ever first-round match in this tournament as he received a first-round bye during the previous visits (except 2006, failed in the qualifiers).
Aleksandr Dolgopolov News
Aleksandr Dolgopolov has his own struggles as he is yet to play a competitive match since losing to Andrea Arnaboldi in the first round of ATP Marrakech.
The Ukrainian, who was forced to retire five times in 2017, has played only nine matches so far in 2018 and managed to win five of them (5/4). Three of those five wins came against Viktor Troicki (poor form), Andreas Haider Maurer (can’t win a main draw match on tour for nearly two years) and Horacio Zeballos (inconsistent).
Former world #13 Dolgopolov suffered first-round defeats in four of his previous seven main draw appearances here at the Rome Masters.
Tennis Prediction: Novak Djokovic 2-0 SET
Odds: 1.50
