Dubai Championships: Rublev vs van de Zandschulp Tennis Prediction & Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 Dubai Championships as Andrey Rublev takes on Botic van de Zandschulp in the quarterfinal on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

Andrey Rublev kept his title defense alive at the Dubai Championships, surviving by the skin of his teeth. But the Russian cannot afford to play from the backfoot at this stage, starting with a quarterfinal clash against Botic van de Zandschulp. Who will prevail?

Andrey Rublev pulled off a huge Houdini act to progress into the quarterfinal of the 2023 Dubai Championships. Rublev lost the first set 6-1 against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who was hitting the ball so crisply and with purpose. And in the second set tiebreak, the flashy Spaniard led 6-1, holding five match points. But remarkably, Rublev turned the set around and eventually prevailed 1-6 7-6 7-6 in an incredulous feat of escapology that took nearly two and a half hours.

Botic van de Zandschulp, meanwhile, also needed a three-set win to advance into the last eight at the Dubai Championships, but his was less dramatic. It was a topsy-turvy match in which neither player grabbed control of the match, but it was the Dutchman who was efficient in taking his chances. He broke Mikael Ymer six times from nine opportunities to win 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Botic van de Zandschulp surprisingly leads Andrey Rublev 2-0 in their head-to-head. Their most recent meeting came two years ago in St. Petersburg when the Dutchman defeated the Russian en route to his first ATP semifinal. That victory came hot on the heels of a terrific quarterfinal run at the US Open. van de Zandschulp doesn’t have that wave of momentum on his side this time although he has tallied two decent wins at the Dubai Championships. Rublev will draw an enormous amount of confidence from that stonking win over Davidovich Fokina, and while van de Zandschulp could hurt him in certain moments in the match, the Russian’s power will be too much to handle.