Struffi in the role of favourite at Weissenhof

After the French Open, the clay court season is over for the time being, or rather, it is interrupted. The focus is on Wimbledon and therefore the grass court tournaments are currently in focus. For three weeks, the tennis cracks now have time to prepare themselves on grass, in order to be best prepared for the probably biggest and most important tennis tournament in the world at the beginning of July. In our Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Zhizhen Zhang tip, we take a look at whether the German number two will succeed in this endeavour.

This week, the attention of German tennis fans turns to Stuttgart’s Weissenhof, where the BOSS Open 2023 will take place. Only three DTB aces are in the main draw. Alexander Zverev has withdrawn and no German has been able to make it through the qualifying rounds. So Daniel Altmaier, Oscar Otte and Jan-Lennard Struff are expected to ensure a successful tournament from the German point of view.

In the first round, Struffi will face the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang. Based purely on his position in the world rankings, the German is the relatively clear favourite with betting provider Bet365. The Warsteiner is ranked 24th after his great performance in Madrid, while the Chinese player is 32 places behind. Therefore, between Jan-Lennard Struff and Zhizhen Zhang, the bookmakers’ prediction is for a win for the local hero.

However, the Chinese outsider is currently in the best form of his career. Perhaps the 26-year-old can draw on recent historically good results and put another exclamation mark on his performance. In any case, we don’t think the matter is as clear-cut as it seems at first glance and therefore we can definitely imagine that this match will go the full distance of three sets.

Jan-Lennard Struff – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 24
Seeded list position: unseeded

Jan-Lennard Struff had to be 33 years old before he started knocking on the door of the top 20 in the world rankings. The Warsteiner has never been better off in the ATP rankings than he is at present. This is because he has successfully fought his way back to his old form after a weak phase with a tour of tingles over numerous Challengers. The absolute highlight was the final at the Masters in Madrid, where he even went toe-to-toe with Carlos Alcaraz for a long time, but in the end lost in two sets, and that as a qualifier.

Weak grass court record

Because the world rankings had not yet been updated, he would have had to compete again in qualifying at the following Masters in Rome. He was denied a wildcard and so he competed at the Challenger in Bordeaux, where it became apparent that trees do not grow to the sky. In the semi-finals, the 33-year-old lost to Tomas Etcheverry from Argentina.

Never the less, he was seeded at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the French Open in Paris. But that didn’t help him avoid early elimination. In his opening match, he lost to Czech Jiri Lehecka in five sets. If one wants to see the positive side of this defeat, it is certainly that Struffi was able to prepare for the grass court season two weeks longer than many of his opponents.

In general, the German’s record on grass is extremely improvable. With about 36 per cent of matches won on the green surface, grass is statistically his weakest surface. Only in 2013 and 2019 were there more victories than defeats on grass for the Warsteiner. Therefore, it seems at least sensible to also keep an eye on the odds on a win for the Chinese in the duel between Jan-Lennard Struff and Zhizhen Zhang.

Zhizhen Zhang – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 56
Seeded list position: unseeded

We have seen great Chinese female tennis players time and again in recent years. The men have always been somewhat left out. Zhizhen Zhang, at 26 years old, is no longer an outright talent, but he could perhaps breathe new life into men’s tennis in the Middle Kingdom, as he is currently the most noteworthy tennis player from China.

Zhang on the rise

After the French Open, Zhizhen Zhang has climbed to 52nd in the world rankings. He has never been higher in the rankings. But he earned it with a historic success, becoming the first Chinese to make it past the first round of Roland Garros since 1937. Admittedly, he moved into the second round after Serb Dusan Lajovic retired.

After all, it was enough there for a regular victory in four sets over the Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante. Afterwards, Zhizhen Zhang also showed a decent match against the later finalist Casper Ruud and even surprisingly won a set. However, further Chinese records were not to be broken at the French Open.

It will be especially important for the Chinese to get used to the grass court. In his career, he has played just eleven matches on the ATP Tour on this surface. With 6:5 victories, he has a narrowly positive record. However, five of these victories came in qualifying matches. The Chinese will now serve for the first time at Stuttgart’s Weissenhof. We dare to predict that this match between Jan-Lennard Struff and Zhizhen Zhang will not be decided in two sets.

Jan-Lennard Struff – Zhizhen Zhang Direct comparison / H2H record

It wasn’t that long ago that Jan-Lennard Struff and Zhizhen Zhang faced each other for the first and to date only time. It was in mid-March when both opponents faced each other on a hard court at the Masters in Miami. However, at that time it was only the second round of the qualifying, because both players only showed their best performances this season on clay afterwards.

Incidentally, a good three months ago, the Chinese player was still clearly ahead of the German in the world rankings. Nevertheless, Jan-Lennard Struff retained the upper hand very clearly. After only 1:10 hours, the Warsteiner won 6:4 and 6:2 and impressed above all with a very stable service, extremely few unforced errors and numerous winners.

Jan-Lennard Struff – Zhizhen Zhang Tip

Not only the odds in the Bwin App clearly show that the German is the clear favourite in this match in front of his home crowd. Just over three months ago, the Warsteiner clearly put his Chinese opponent in his place in two sets. Since then, however, a lot has happened. Both players have produced some very strong performances on clay.

The performance curve in the last matches went down for both of them, but more clearly for the German. The Chinese also sees himself at an advantage on faster surfaces. He has only played a few matches on grass so far, but has a positive record there. Statistically, however, grass is the surface that suits the local hero least. Therefore, we think that between Jan-Lennard Struff and Zhizhen Zhang, a bet on a victory for the Chinese player is worth considering.

We think it will be a fast match, which the grass surface brings with it, but that it will not be decided in two sets. We can imagine that 26 games will be played, but we rather expect the Chinese underdog to prevail, because Struffi is anything but a grass specialist. That’s why we have decided to play the betting odds between Jan-Lennard Struff and Zhizhen Zhang on a win for the Chinese player