Alexei Popyrin v Holger Rune Betting Tips [16 May 2023]

A first quarterfinal in Rome beckons for seventh seed Holger Rune and the qualifier Alexei Popyrin when they meet on Tuesday in the fourth round of the Rome Masters. Alexei Popyrin began his third appearance in Rome in the qualifying rounds just like his previous two but this year he has managed to advance to the main draw for the first time. The Australian is good form so far, having won his five matches at the Italian Open and only dropping two sets. This superb performance has however not boosted his world ranking as he has dropped four places to number 81 in the live rankings after losing the points from a Challenger Tour win last year. After defeating 10th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round, his only match to go three sets in the main draw, Popyrin will be confident of upsetting another higher seed.

Holger Rune is also in his main draw debut in Rome and this is just his second appearance. Last year, the Dane was eliminated in the qualifying rounds. Rune has been superb this season on clay and defended his title in Munich and was also able to make the final in Monte-Carlo. His form this year, which has seen him win 22 of the 31 matches he has played, has enabled him to reach a new career-high world ranking of number seven. He has 10 wins out of the 12 matches he has played on clay and defeated crowd favourite Fabio Fognini in the third round. Rune is yet to drop a set and after surviving a hostile crowd in the last round, will be the favorite to advance further in the tournament. This is the first meeting between the two players and will see the winner advance to face either defending champion and top seed Novak Djokovic or 13th seed Cameron Norrie.

Popyrin has played well and could be coming here hoping for an upset but he's played three more matches than Rune in Rome. That may well leave him with less in the tank as he takes on a top ten player. Our prediction for Alexei Popyrin v Holger Rune is for Rune to win in straight sets.