Zhizhen Zhang v Lorenzo Sonego Betting Tips [27 June 2023]

World number 40 Lorenzo Sonego will take on 54th-ranked Zhizhen Zhang in the first round of the ATP Eastbourne Open on Monday. The winner of this match will take on either Daniel Elahi Galan or Maxime Cressy in the next round. Sonego has had productive season so far, managing to improve his ranking from 71st in February to inside the top 40 coming into this tournament. The Italian enjoys the grasscourt and has a lifetime record of 20-15 and 2-2 this year. He’s already tried his hand at two tournaments on the surface, and while he didn’t make it past the second round in either, Sonego did look at home. In Stuttgart, he lost to a very strong performance by Christopher O’Connell, while last week in Halle, he pushed Jannik Sinner to three sets but came up just short. He has never played Zhang before but will be expecting to reach the next round. 

Following a solid clay swing, Zhang is yet to show the same type of form on the grass. Like his opponent, Zhang has improved his world ranking notably this year but having failed to get past the first round of his first two grasscourt tournaments, he is at risk of dropping a few places with another early exit here. The Chinese tried his best in Stuttgart but was unable to overcome Jan Lennard Struff. However, the following week, he found himself losing in straight sets to wildcard Louis Wessels, who is ranked 347th. Zhang is now 16-18 for the year and 0-2 on the grass, which is not a surface that he is well known for. Against the experience of Sonego, Zhang may find this another difficult first-round draw to overcome.

This looks like it should be a fairly straightforward win for Sonego. The Italian has the experience and has generally looked better on the grass over the last couple of weeks. We’ll be adding this one to our accumulators. Our Zhizhen Zhang vs Lorenzo Sonego prediction: Lorenzo Sonego to win the match.