BMW Open in Munich, Round of 16, Wednesday, 27.04.2022
The French Open 2022 will start in less than a month! Before Roland Garros calls, the best tennis players want to get their form in shape. These days, some of them are guests in Munich.
Naturally, the fans are hoping to see a German tournament winner once again. Who could be better suited here than the Olympic champion? In my Zverev Rune tip, I reveal why the local hero probably wished for an easier opponent to start with!
Five German winners in the last nine tournaments – the fans of the BMW Open are definitely a bit spoilt. After Cristian Garin and Nikolos Bassilashvili, there should be another winner in their own colours in 2022.
Especially because Jan-Lennard Struff lost last year’s final so narrowly. Fortunately, in Alexander Zverev there is a real world-class man who seems predestined to win the title.
The just 25-year-old, who is third in the world rankings, has been able to improve very slowly in recent competitions. After his suspension from Acapulco, he disgraced himself in Indian Wells right from round 1.
In Miami he reached the quarter-finals, and recently in Monte Carlo he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last four. If he continues this series, it looks good for the final in Munich.
Zverev knows, however, that it is possible to be eliminated early in this tournament. Last year, it was Ilya Ivashka, then not even in the top 100, who spoiled his second appearance.
Even before that, in 2019, he was already eliminated in the quarter-finals, losing to Cristian Garin, a strong sand player. In 2017 and 2018, however, the Olympic champion got to know the other side of the medal and could be celebrated as champion of Munich.
On Wednesday, he will duel for the first time with Holger Rune, who is only 18 years old. The German betting companies do not want to know anything about a possible sensation, send the favourite into the race with odds of 1.15 to 5.00.
Very optimistic, if you take a closer look at the great potential of his young opponent. The Dane celebrates his 19th birthday on Friday, so maybe he will even get to blow out the candles in the Bavarian capital.
In Belgrade he could defeat Cristian Garin, before in Monte Carlo he was close to a sensation after his success against Aslan Karatsev. 6-7, 5-7 against Casper Ruud – Zverev had also lost to him a few weeks ago!
No question, Rune wants more than the current 70th place in the world rankings. In Munich, his tournament began with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Jiri Lehecka. He only allowed his opponent four break chances.
After his tournament victory at the San Remo Challenger, the youngster now wants to show it on the bigger stage. Why not against Alexander Zverev? After all, he had also won the set against Matteo Berrettini in Indian Wells.
My Zverev Rune Tip
It is of course understandable that Alexander Zverev is sent into his first match at the BMW Open as the clear favourite by the bookmakers. However, after my analysis, I warn against underestimating Holger Rune.
The 18-year-old is not afraid of the big ones, he almost beat Casper Ruud a few days ago. So he will probably not have too much respect before his duel with the Olympic champion.
My tip is therefore: We see more than 19.5 games!
