Novak Djokovic v Holger Rune Betting Tips [17 May 2023]

 Top seed Novak Djokovic continues his bid to retain his Rome Masters title. He faces the seventh seeded Holger Rune in the last eight of this outdoor clay court tournament. Djokovic has won this title on six previous occasions but is yet to win a clay court tournament in 2023. He began this Rome Masters as the world number one but has been overtaken by Carlos Alcaraz. Even retaining his title won't prevent that so he won't be top seed at Roland Garros. It would however see him go top of the Live ATP Race unless Daniil Medvedev makes the final. Djokovic has been a tad inconsistent on clay this year with losses to Lorenzo Musetti and Dusan Lajovic. He's made it to the last eight in Rome for the loss of one set. That was in the third round against 26th seeded Grigor Dimitrov, losing the second set. He had no such problems against 13th seeded Cameron Norrie in round four, winning in straight sets. He's 1-1 in previous meetings with Rune but neither of those matches was played on clay.

Holger Rune is the world number seven and famously beat Djokovic in the final of the Paris Masters last year. Before this tournament, he'd never made it past the first qualifying round in Rome. That's all changed though and in the past 12 months he's climbed 33 places in the world rankings and is a threat to anyone these days. Rune reached the final in Monte Carlo this year including wins over Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev. His impressive clay court form continued when winning the title in Munich. He's had not the toughest of routes to the last eight in Rome. Two qualifiers and a wild card have had to be beaten to get this far. The last round saw him have to go to a final set to get past qualifier Alexei Popyrin. This is a lot tougher of course and it's Djokovic who we believe will reach the semi-finals.