Alexander Zverev vs Jordan Thompson Prediction – Tennis Picks 10-16-2023

Third seed Alexander Zverev will face World No. 62 Jordan Thompson in the first round of the 2023 Japan Open Tennis Championships. The match will be played on Monday, October 16, 2023.

Alexander Zverev is in search of maximum points at the Japan Open as the race to Turin becomes increasingly tight. There are not many tournaments left between now and the final event of the regular season in November. Zverev has played very well on hard courts this year. After a slow start to the season, he’s amassed 22 wins on hard courts. Having lost back-to-back matches in Beijing and Shanghai, Zverev has the chance to bounce back in Tokyo where he will be one of the favorites to win the title.

Jordan Thompson has also lost his last two matches, with his defeat to Terence Atmane in Shanghai the most surprising. Before that, he retired in Beijing while trailing Roman Safiullin by a set. Overall, it’s been a solid year for the 29-year-old Sydneysider who won added two ATP Challenger titles to his trophy cabinet in addition to a runner-up finish at Tour level in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The World No. 62 has earned 18 wins on the ATP Tour, which is slightly short of his career-best of 25 from the 2019 season. Can he pull off an upset on Monday at the Japan Open?

Alexander Zverev has played Jordan Thompson once on the ATP Tour, with the German producing a come-from-behind victory in Washington six years ago. Zverev’s body betrayed him in Shanghai, and it is understandable after a grueling couple of weeks in Chengdu and Beijing, where he won seven of his eight matches while collecting an ATP 250 title in that run. In a way, his loss to Roman Safiullin this past week could be a blessing in disguise and I expect him to return to winning ways here, likely in two sets.