TennisSection previews the 2021 Halle Open as Alexander Zverev (3) meets Dominik Koepfer in the First Round on Tuesday June 15th, 2021.
Third seed Alexander Zverev of Germany will face countryman Dominik Koepfer in the First Round of the 2021 Halle Open. Zverev will be hoping to bounce back strongly from a disappointing Semi-Final loss at the French Open to Stefanos Tsitsipas, and will be highly motivated here. Can the unseeded Koepfer cause the massive upset here on grass?
Alexander Zverev is currently ranked #6 in the ATP world rankings and is seeded third here at the 2021 Halle Open. The German has been having a strong season so far, highlighted by titles in Acapulco and the Madrid Masters. While he has never had much success at Wimbledon, he was runner up here in Halle in both 2016 and 2017, proving that he can play on the surface. Zverev is not considered one of the true contenders for the title at Wimbledon but he certainly is good enough to go deep in the tournament and will be hoping to kick start his grass season with a first title here in Halle. He enters this match as the big favorite against compatriot Dominik Koepfer and will be expected to advance here without many issues as his opponent is also not a fan of the surface.
Dominik Koepfer has been in good form of late, breaking into the top 50 in the world rankings after some solid performances on the ATP Tour. The German is considered a clay courter but had a fairly disappointing clay court season, other than a Quarter-Final run in Geneva. He reached the Third Round at Roland Garros where he impressively stretched Roger Federer to four very tough sets, and will be very confident in his game after that performance. The lefty is a very quick mover and has an extremely good forehand but he is yet to prove that he is comfortable on this surface and is likely to struggle here. He enters this match against Alexander Zverev as the underdog and will have to play the best grass-court match of his life to have any chance here at the 2021 Halle Open.
This will be the second meeting between the two players on the ATP Tour, with Alexander Zverev winning their only meeting this year in the Acapulco Semis. While he lost that match, Dominik Koepfer will take confidence from the fact that it was extremely close, and this year he has proved that he can hang with the very best. However, he is largely unproven on grass while Zverev has been solid on the surface, and I expect the world number six to win comfortably. On any other surface he would make things a bit interesting, but I don’t think he is yet ready to challenge on grass. Alexander Zverev will win comfortably here to advance to the Second Round here at the 2021 Halle Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Alexander Zverev to win in straight sets
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