Struff makes his debut in the tournament!
Jan-Lennard Struff is back: a hip injury kept him out of action for a quarter of a year. In the middle of last month, the German celebrated his comeback. Of course, he’s picked up some rust in the meantime, but with increasing competitive practice, things should be looking up for him now.
For the match between Jan-Lennard Struff and Matteo Arnaldi, tip and odds are presented in the following article! As a seeded player, the Warsteiner has not yet had to intervene in the ongoing Masters in Shanghai.
In contrast, his opponent has already been challenged: In the first round, the Italian narrowly prevailed 2-1 against Alexei Popyrin from Australia. The match lasted over two hours and thus took a lot of energy out of him. In the upcoming duel between Jan-Lennard Struff and Matteo Arnaldi, the tip is now aiming for three rounds again.
Jan-Lennard Struff – statistics & current form
The German has meanwhile advanced to become the new number 1 in German tennis this year. This was also due to the fact that the previous top dog Alexander Zverev had to find his feet again after his injury, but of course mainly due to Struff’s strong performances.
Last May, for example, he reached a Masters final for the first time in his career. In Madrid, he was beaten in the final by the number 2 in the world rankings in three sets. Moreover, he has not only been consistent on clay, but also on grass.
This can be seen in his further participation in the final in Stuttgart. In the final at Weissenhof, he also lost to Frances Tiafoe from the USA only after three rounds.
Struff still lacks consistency
Now, however, Struff must first re-acclimatise on the courts of this world after his quarter-year injury break. In China, where the ATP Tour has been stopping for a few weeks, this was initially achieved very well.
In his comeback match in the last 16 of the tournament in Zhuhai, he won straight away against Cristian Garin. However, the Chilean is only number 98 in the world rankings and the victory was a bumpy 2-1.
After that, Struff had to say goodbye to the competition after losing to Nishioka from Japan. Things did not get any better from a results point of view a few days later at the China Open in Beijing, when Norwegian Casper Ruud proved too strong.
No defeat in two sets for the Warsteiner?
However, the German can build on the recent defeat from a playing perspective. After all, Ruud is number 9 in the world rankings and at least in the first set Struff stood up to him well, because this set was only decided in a tiebreak.
In view of this, the match between Jan-Lennard Struff and Matteo Arnaldi is also worth considering with bets and odds on a success for the player from Warstein, including a handicap of 1.5 sets for him.
Matteo Arnaldi – Statistics & current form
The Sanremo professional has steadily improved in recent years. After breaking into the world’s top 1,000 tennis players for the first time in November 2020, he took a place in the top 200 barely two years later.
This year, Arnaldi cracked the top-100 mark and he is currently ranked as high as 42nd in the world rankings. However, like Struff, the right-hander has not yet won a title on the ATP Tour. His record at the Challenger level is more successful, with four triumphs.
However, the 22-year-old has won three of these on clay. On hard court, as currently in Shanghai, he won only once.
His tournament success came in February of this year in Tenerife with a 2-0 win over his compatriot Raul Brancaccio. His most impressive single-game victory to date against Ruud, the No. 4 ranked player at the time, also came on clay last spring at the Masters in Madrid.
At least a tiebreak in the German-Italian duel?
With this in mind and the recent rise in form of his opponent, the forecast for a tiebreak in the clash between Jan-Lennard Struff and Matteo Arnaldi also seems advisable.
A close match is to be expected, in which at least one round will probably only find its winner in this form. The forecast is available at Bet365, for example.
Jan-Lennard Struff – Matteo Arnaldi Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
The only duel between the two players from Germany and Italy so far took place in November last year at the tournament in Bergamo on hard court. At that time, Struff won 2-1 in the quarter-finals against the professional coached by Alessandro Petrone. His path then took him all the way to the final, where he was defeated by Virtanen from Finland.
Jan-Lennard Struff – Matteo Arnaldi Tip
For the match between Jan-Lennard Struff and Matteo Arnaldi, the prediction includes three sets. The German can normally be considered to have a stronger game and is 15 places higher in the world rankings, but recently returned from a very long injury break.
This lasted three months, which is why the number 27 in the world rankings still needs some time before he is back at his performance maximum. On the other hand, Struff can be expected to have gained more competitive experience in his fourth match after returning to the court, which is why it won’t be a walk in the park for his Italian competitor either.
Furthermore, he was already shaky against Popyrin in the first round in Shanghai, when he only managed to win in three sets. A similar course of play can be expected again, especially as Arnaldi is particularly comfortable on clay – a surface that is not available at the ongoing hard-court Masters in the Chinese port city.
The Struff vs. Arnaldi tip is also based on the only direct duel so far last year, which was also only decided after three rounds with the German as the winner.
