Local hero meets in-form youngster!

It’s about time again. That’s what Alexander Zverev will be thinking when he looks at his personal list of tournament victories. The German has not won a tournament on the ATP Tour since November 2021!

Hamburg’s Rothenbaum would of course be particularly well laid out for a triumph. After all, he would triumph in his home town and end a German drought that dates back to 1993. At that time, Michael Stich was the last home-grown professional to win the tournament.

However, in his five previous appearances at the Hanseatic ATP tournament, the 26-year-old has only reached the semi-finals. This now beckons again, but before that Alexander Zverev has to compete with Luca van Assche. Tip and odds for the German-French duel in the quarter-finals can be found in the following article.

Alexander Zverev – Statistics & current form

The Hamburg player looks back on a mixed year so far in 2023. After returning from his serious injury from the previous year, things did not go well especially at the beginning of the year. One example was his elimination from the Australian Open in the second round.

Afterwards, Zverev stabilised and reached the semi-finals of the French Open. Overall, his record on clay this year is 17 wins and seven losses.

Zverev has come to terms with Wimbledon

Zverev seems to have coped well with another disappointment on grass at Wimbledon this month. In London, the 2020 US Open finalist had to pack up his rackets after the third round and continues to wait for an improvement of his poor record at the world’s most important grass court tournament.

He has never reached more than the round of 16 in the course of his career. Now, however, he hopes to win his first title in Hamburg. He had not competed at this tournament since 2019 and his two appearances at the Rothenbaum so far have been promising.

Hamburger is still without a set loss

So he started with a smooth 2:0 against the Slovak Alex Molcan. He easily dispatched the world number 118 in just 61 minutes. Zverev also played Molcan last week at the tournament in Bastad, Sweden, on clay.

Here, the two-time winner of the ATP Finals had an even harder time, as he only managed to win the Swedish Open after three sets. In the last round, he again threw his compatriot Maximilian Marterer out of the competition. He only allowed one break against the player from Nuremberg and in the end he had defeated Marterer again 2:0.

First set loss by Zverev?

But since it’s now against a much stronger player, the forecast for more than two sets in the clash between Alexander Zverev and Luca van Assche is also worth a recommendation.

Luca Van Assche – Statistics & current form

Luca van Assche is only 19 years old. However, he has already shown his great talent during his time as a junior player. As a former number 1 in the junior world rankings, he won the French Open in 2021!

The youngster, who was born in the Brussels municipality of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, is particularly strong on clay. This can easily be seen from the fact that he won two of his three ATP Tour titles on this surface. In addition, the right-hander has already won a tournament on this surface in 2023.

The success came in Sanremo, where van Assche defeated Juan Pablo Varillas from Peru in the final. He also reached at least the second round of the French Open this year. This was the French pro’s best result in a Grand Slam tournament so far in his still very short career.

Underdog has been playing well lately

At the current tournament in Hamburg, he also caused a real sensation in the last round. He beat the clearly favoured Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 2:1. The Iberian opponent is clearly ahead of van Assche, who is currently ranked 39th in the world rankings.

Especially in the third set, the Frenchman, coached by Yannick Quere, showed strong nerves and served four of his six aces. Despite his current strong form, however, he once again takes the role of the underdog in the upcoming duel. For this reason, the match between Alexander Zverev and Luca van Assche offers additional betting odds on a three-set victory for the German.

Alexander Zverev – Luca Van Assche Direct comparison / H2H record

The German 2021 Olympic champion and Frenchman face each other on court for the first time

Alexander Zverev – Luca Van Assche Tip

The Hamburg ATP tournament has lost prestige since 2009. Back then, it was taken out of the Masters series and the date shift from May to July was equally hard to swallow for tournament officials, as it can no longer be used as preparation for the French Open.

For Alexander Zverev, a victory would nevertheless be a great success. The world number 19 has not won an ATP title for about one and a half years and a triumph in his hometown would of course be something very special for him.

For the round of 16 of the Hamburg European Open between Alexander Zverev and Luca van Assche, betting on more than 20.5 games now seems promising. Admittedly, the 19-year-old opponent of the German is at the beginning of his career and only made his debut on the ATP Tour last year in Antwerp.

But his great successes as a junior prove his enormous potential. In addition, he already knocked out one of the favourites for the title at the Rothenbaum in the last round, which is why his current form can be considered strong. In the light of this, there is at least no sign of a defeat for the outsider, especially as he feels particularly comfortable on clay.