Rotterdam Open: Tsitsipas vs Ruusuvuori Tennis Prediction & Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 Rotterdam Open as Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on Emil Ruusuvuori in the first round on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is the red-hot favorite to win the Rotterdam Open. The Greek No. 1 will open up against Finnish No. 1 Emil Ruusuvuori with a potential second-round meeting against Jannik Sinner on the horizon. Who will prevail?

Stefanos Tsitsipas is near-perfect in 2023. The only blot in the copybook was the Australian Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic last month. Tsitsipas has since improved to 12-1 for the season after picking up a couple of victories for his country in the Davis Cup to ensure they will contest the Group II playoffs next year. With his tremendous start to the season, Tsitsipas will be looking to go one better at the Rotterdam Open this year. He finished runner-up to Auger-Aliassime last season.

Emil Ruusuvuori, meanwhile, also played a key role for his country in qualifying for the Davis Cup Finals. Finland defeated Argentina, with Ruusuvuori accounting for two singles wins. Ruusuvuori’s return to Tour-level competition in Montpellier this past week did not yield a deep run. He lost in the second round in straight sets to Maxime Cressy.

Stefanos Tsitsipas leads Emil Ruusuvuori 1-0 in their head-to-head. They played each other on the indoor hard courts of Stockholm last season with Tsitsipas winning in straight sets. We like the Greek to take this second career meeting, also pretty routinely. He is inarguably the second-best player this year outside Novak Djokovic, and should he win here, he could book a second-round meeting against Jannik Sinner at the Rotterdam Open.