Will Altmaier’s run in the eternal city continue?

In the first round of the Italian Open 2023, an interesting Italian-German duel has emerged between two players who have never before won a match in the main draw at the important tennis tournament in Rome. While the Italian made his debut on the ATP Tour here last year (0:2 against Karen Khachanov), his German opponent is now facing his first singles in the main draw of the Italian Open. The betting on Giulio Zeppieri against Daniel Altmaier is generally more favorable for the German.

Daniel Altmaier already caused a sensation in the last two weeks when, just like the later finalist Jan-Lennard Struff, he achieved the feat of advancing to the quarterfinals as a lucky loser. Here in Rome, however, the German successfully made it through qualifying, which means he will be allowed to compete in the main draw for the first time, even without a lucky draw. His recent run on clay will have to be factored into the forecast for Giulio Zeppieri against Daniel Altmaier.

In addition to his impressive run to the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open, however, overall experience also speaks in the German’s favor. After six participations in the men’s singles of a Grand Slam as well as five reached the main draw of Masters tournaments, Daniel Altmaier is now already participating in his twelfth Major tournament. His Italian opponent, on the other hand, is only taking part for the third time after the Italian Open 2022 and the French Open 2022 and remained winless in his first two appearances.

Accordingly, it is in our eyes consistent to play the favorite bet in this Italian-German first round match and bet on Daniel Altmaier’s entry into the second round, where the seeded Frances Tiafoe is already waiting.

Giulio Zeppieri – statistics & current form

Current ranking in the world: 120
Position in the seedings: Wildcard

A total of five wildcards were awarded during the 80th staging of the Italian Open taking place in Rome and one of these coveted direct tickets for the first main round of the important tennis tournament went to Roman-born Giulio Zeppieri.

The 21-year-old made his debut on the ATP Tour exactly one year ago here in the eternal city at the clay-court tournament and was able to show a performance worth seeing in the first round. In the end, however, it was not enough to advance against Kharen Khachanov in the 0:2 defeat.

In 2023 still without a win on the ATP Tour

Now the Italian is taking part in a major tournament for the third time in his career and is looking for his first singles victory on the really big stages. After all, he had a strong run on the ATP Tour last summer in Croatia. At the ATP Umag, he reached the semifinals after winning five matches in a row.

Since then, however, it has been quiet again for Giulio Zeppieri, who only played a single rated singles match on the ATP Tour at the ATP Estoril in Portugal at the beginning of April. Here, the 21-year-old lost 1:2 (4:6, 6:1 and 3:6) to Joao Sousa (ATP 147) in the first round.

Zeppieri prefers clay court

Also considering the circumstances that the Italian, who is mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour, will play only his second rated singles on the ATP Tour in 2023 on Thursday, it is not surprising that the betting odds are clearly against the youngster when it comes to Giulio Zeppieri against Daniel Altmaier.

Nevertheless, the clay court suits the Roman-born player, who also won his first singles title on this surface on the ATP Challenger Tour in August 2021. Moreover, as a local hero, the 21-year-old is likely to have the hearts of the fans beating out for him at the Foro Italico, which could possibly also be a factor.

Daniel Altmaier – statistics & current form

Current ranking in the world: 65
Position in the seedings: Qualifier

The 24-year-old German Daniel Altmaier has been mixing it up on the ATP Tour since 2017, but in his first four years he drifted around almost exclusively on the ATP Challenger Tour as well as in smaller ITF Futures.

In 2020, the Kempen native made his major tournament debut at the French Open, where he surprisingly advanced to the round of 16. To date, it is his best run at a Grand Slam tournament. In five more appearances in men’s singles Grand Slams, he did not manage another victory.

With three 2-0 wins into the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open

Daniel Altmaier had fallen accordingly low again after his interim career high of 53rd place in the ATP world rankings. But then came the Masters tournament in Madrid, which brought a breath of fresh air into the career of the 24-year-old in the last two weeks.

Actually, the tournament was already over, because the German failed in the qualification to Jurij Rodionov (ATP 119). But then Pablo Carreno Busta withdrew from the tournament and the player from Kempen moved up as a lucky loser. In the main draw, he then advanced to the quarterfinals with three convincing 2-0 wins in a row.

Impressive qualification for the Italian Open

After Altmaier tasted blood in Madrid last week, things promptly went absolutely flawless in qualifying in the eternal city. With two 2-0 wins against Jozef Kovalik and Elias Ymer, the German set the course for the next participation in a men’s singles of a major tournament, where he would now love to start the next run.

In any case, the recent run, the momentum built up and the big jump in the ATP world rankings mean that with Giulio Zeppieri against Daniel Altmaier, our tip is definitely going to the Kempener advancing, but he has won just four of his 13 rated singles matches on the ATP Tour in 2023.

Giulio Zeppieri – Daniel Altmaier Direct comparison / H2H record

Head to head: 0:0

So far, the two athletes have never crossed paths in a rated tennis match before. Consequently, there is no “head to head” data that could be used in the forecast for Giulio Zeppieri vs Daniel Altmaier.

Giulio Zeppieri – Daniel Altmaier tip

Although neither athlete has been able to achieve any real breakthrough successes on the ATP Tour so far, the odds are swinging in the German’s direction when it comes to Giulio Zeppieri vs Daniel Altmaier. That’s because the 24-year-old not only has more experience than his Italian opponent, but also just put together an impressive, if somewhat fortunate, run at the Madrid Open. Less than a week ago, the Kempen native reached the quarterfinals of a major tournament for the first time in his career.

In addition, Giulio Zeppieri is still very inexperienced on the ATP Tour. In the entire year of 2023, the Roman-born player, who only made it to the main draw of the Italian Open via wildcard, has yet to win a single rated singles match on the ATP Tour. Accordingly, in our eyes, the tip on the victory of Daniel Altmaier is coherent