Italian Open 2021: Andrey Rublev vs Jan-Lennard Struff preview, head-to-head & prediction

Match details

Fixture: (7) Andrey Rublev vs Jan-Lennard Struff

Date: 12 May 2021

Tournament: Internazionali BNL d'italia 2021

Round: Second round (Round of 32)

Venue: Rome, Italy

Category: ATP Masters 1000

Surface: Red clay

Prize money: €2,082,960

Match timing: Approx. 12 pm local time, 3.30 pm IST

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video

Andrey Rublev vs Jan-Lennard Struff preview

Andrey Rublev will open his 2021 Italian Open campaign with a second-round encounter against Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff on Wednesday.

Rublev, who has had a bit of a mixed start to the claycourt season. will be looking to steady the ship ahead of Roland Garros. Against an in-form Struff though, the Russian faces a tough opponent at the very first hurdle.

Jan-Lennard Struff

Struff is currently in the midst of a late-career surge. The 31-year-old has scored a total of six wins against top 10 players over the last couple of seasons, and has looked very comfortable on the court in recent times.

Struff also reached his first tour final at the recently-concluded Munich event, and will be looking to extend his purple patch here in Rome.

Andrey Rublev vs Jan-Lennard Struff head-to-head

Andrey Rublev will look to make up for his ealry exits in Barcelona and Madrid.

Andrey Rublev and Jan-Lennard Struff have split their last four meetings, so their current head-to-head stands at a 2-2 deadlock. Rublev needed three sets to hold off the German in their most recent meeting, which came at the ATP Cup earlier this year.

Andrey Rublev vs Jan-Lennard Struff prediction

Andrey Rublev had beaten claycourt experts Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud en-route to the final at the Monte Carlo Masters. But he hasn't quite managed to replicate those results elsewhere, and will enter the tournament looking to move past the early exits in his last two outings.

The Russian lost to John Isner in his most recent match, and will need to enter the contest against Jan-Lennard Struff with a better game plan. Struff plays an aggressive brand of tennis that's somewhat similar to that of Isner's, so Rublev can't afford to repeat the same patterns that he used in Madrid.

The seventh seed should expect some tough resistance from Struff, who enjoys playing in these conditions. That said, if he can find a way to make inroads into some of the German's service games early, Rublev could find himself in a strong position to close out a win in this one.

Prediction: Andrey Rublev to win in three sets.