Tennis Predictions This Week: All Eyes on Zverev, Djokovic
Hamburg & Geneva host ATP tournaments, Strasbourg & Rabat for WTA
With a cracking Italian Open now behind us, the spotlight shifts to four key events as players look to fine-tune their game ahead of the French Open.
In the ATP draw, Alexander Zverev headlines the field at the ATP 500 Hamburg Open, while Novak Djokovic returns to action at the ATP 250 in Geneva.
On the women’s side, the WTA 500 in Strasbourg features some big names hoping to build momentum, while the WTA 250 in Morocco may be a quieter affair but promises plenty of tight, competitive matchups.
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Watch Out for Cerundolo, Davidovich Fokina in Hamburg
2023 champion Alexander Zverev finished runner-up to Arthur Fils last year, but returns this year as the top seed as the German chases his second Hamburg Open title.
Zverev, the Australian Open finalist, lost his way after the first major of the season, but he slowly regained his lost touch during the European clay season.
Zverev won the title in Madrid and then reached the round of 16 in Monte Carlo and the quarterfinal in Rome.
He will begin his Hamburg campaign against a qualifier or a lucky loser, and his progression to the final could include possible meetings with Alexandre Muller in the second round, Alexander Bublik in the quarterfinals, and Andrey Rublev in the semifinals.
The third seed, Rublev, has been struggling recently and is 3–7 from his last 10 tour-level matches.
He will be desperate to regain form ahead of the start of the French Open next week, and it only helps that he finds himself in that section of the draw where most players have struggled this year.
A first-round matchup against Damir Dzumhur is tricky, as the latter defeated players like Sebastian Baez and Pedro Martinez on clay recently, but if Rublev can see him off—as we expect he will—he could be up against a struggling Jan-Lennard Struff in a potential second round and Marrakech Open champion Luciano Darderi in a potential quarterfinal.
Two other players in the top half who will look to strike form ahead of Roland Garros are sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has fizzled out after a fantastic start to the year, and seventh seed Brandon Nakashima.
While Auger-Aliassime is on a five-match losing streak across levels, Nakashima has more losses than wins on clay this season.
We expect Auger-Aliassime to fall to Turin Challenger semifinalist Daniel Altmaier in the first round. However, if the Canadian manages to register a win in the first round, we think he will be beaten by Bublik in their possible quarterfinal.
From the bottom half, fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo is our pick to reach the final. The Argentine made back-to-back semifinals in Munich and Madrid and reached the round of 16 in Rome.
He was a semifinalist in 2022 and a quarterfinalist in 2024. Cerundolo will meet Pedro Martinez in the first round and Jiri Lehecka in a potential second round.
Last year’s semifinalist Sebastian Baez, who is on a four-match losing streak across levels, could emerge as a possible quarterfinal opponent from a section of the draw that consists of four Argentinians.
Cerundolo’s potential semifinal opponent is fifth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, whom we are backing over second seed Frances Tiafoe. Davidovich Fokina is having a brilliant season.
After two runner-up finishes on hard court, he made it to the semifinals in Monte Carlo and the quarterfinals in Barcelona.
We expect the Spaniard to beat Gael Monfils in the first round, Flavio Cobolli in a potential second round, and Tiafoe in a potential quarterfinal.
Hamburg Open Predictions
Semifinals:
Zverev v Rublev
Cerundolo v Davidovich Fokina
Final:
Zverev v Cerundolo
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Djokovic Headlines Geneva
Novak Djokovic is 0–2 on clay this season and will be eager to find his footing on dirt before next week’s clay court showpiece. He is seeded No. 2 in Geneva, where he was a semifinalist last year.
The Serb has a first-round bye and is likely to begin his campaign against Zizou Bergs in the second round.
Eighth seed Matteo Arnaldi, who stunned Djokovic in the opening round in Madrid, is a possible quarterfinal opponent, while last year’s finalist and third seed Tomas Machac could be a potential semifinal opponent.
Djokovic would look to get his revenge from last year against Machac if the two were to meet in the final four.
In the top half, we expect top seed Taylor Fritz to not only shake off his two-match losing streak but also go as deep as the semifinal, where he could possibly face fourth seed Karen Khachanov, who has shown decent clay court form—reaching the semifinal in Barcelona and, more recently, the third round in Rome.
Geneva Open Predictions
Quarterfinals:
Fritz v Hurkacz
Khachanov v Michelsen
Machac v Popyrin
Djokovic v Arnaldi
Semifinals:
Fritz v Khachanov
Djokovic v Machac
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Pegula Favorite in Strasbourg
Charleston Open champion Jessica Pegula has not won two consecutive matches in her last three tournaments—in Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome—but she will be looking to break that streak in Strasbourg, where she is the top seed and the favorite to claim the title.
The American, who bowed out in the first round in both of her previous two appearances at the tournament, will be looking for her maiden win in Strasbourg when she opens her campaign, possibly against Anna Kalinskaya in the second round.
Pegula could then meet last year’s finalist, Danielle Collins, in the quarterfinal. Although Collins has not looked as sharp as she was last year, she will be high on confidence after eliminating Iga Swiatek in the third round in Rome last week.
If they meet in the last eight, it would be an interesting contest, but given Pegula’s perfect record against her compatriot, we expect the world No. 4 to beat Collins and extend her head-to-head lead to 7–0.
Paula Badosa, who will be playing her first clay court tournament of the season, is the third seed and expected to reach the quarterfinals. We think she will be up against eighth seed Liudmila Samsonova in a potential quarterfinal.
The winner of that quarterfinal will go on to meet Pegula in a potential semifinal in the top half.
When it comes to the bottom half, second seed Emma Navarro and fourth seed Elena Rybakina are seeded to meet in the semis, but both have lacked consistency this season.
Rybakina is likely to face Xinyu Wang in the second round and 2021 champion and seventh seed Barbora Krejcikova in a potential quarterfinal.
The latter is playing her first tournament of 2025, looking to get in the groove ahead of the French Open, where she was champion in 2021.
For Navarro, who may face Magdalena Frech in the second round, a potential quarterfinal against Clara Tauson could pose a difficult challenge. Tauson had rallied from a set down to beat Navarro in the second round in Rome last week.
The American will look to avenge that defeat, making the prospect of that quarterfinal a mouthwatering one.
Strasbourg Open Predictions
Quarterfinals:
Pegula v Collins
Badosa v Samsonova
Rybakina v Krejcikova
Navarro v Tauson
Semifinals:
Pegula v Badosa
Rybakina v Navarro
Lower Ranked Players Fight for Rabat Glory
The WTA 250 in Rabat will witness some lower-ranked players looking to fine-tune their game ahead of the clay court major. Elina Avanesyan is the top seed, but a 0–2 clay court record in 2025 doesn’t stand her in good stead. Second seed Camila Osorio, too, has delivered little outside her home country, where she won the Bogota Open earlier this season.
Lucia Bronzetti is the third seed and Ann Li is fourth—both capable of going deep. But our pick is last year’s runner-up and seventh seed, Mayar Sherif.
The Egyptian just won a WTA 125 in Parma and will hope to carry that form forward.
Rabat Open Predictions
Semifinals:
Avanesyan v Ann Li
Sherif v Bronzetti
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