Botic van de Zandschulp vs Alexander Shevchenko Astana Open Expert Tip: Shevchenko to Keep van de Zandschulp Close

Botic van de Zandschulp vs Alexander Shevchenko (Astana Open): Wednesday, September 27th

Tuesday’s tip carries over to Wednesday, thanks to a constant downpour in Charleston. Denis Kudla got off to a nice start with an early break, but they’ve played just three games so far and there is a long way to go yet in that match.

For Wednesday, we head back to the ATP Tour and the Astana Open to preview Botic van de Zandschulp vs Alexander Shevchenko.

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In this article:

• Botic van de Zandschulp vs Alexander Shevchenko Expert Tip
• Botic van de Zandschulp Recent Form
• Alexander Shevchenko Recent Form
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs Alexander Shevchenko H2H Stat of the Match
• Gamble Responsibly

Botic van de Zandschulp vs Alexander Shevchenko Expert Tip

We’ve seen plenty from Shevchenko this season and with a bit more polish, it’s not outlandish to say that he’ll be a legitimate top-30 to top-50 threat in the next year or two.

He’s athletic, moves pretty well and can absolutely crush the ball from the baseline. The errors are still present in his game and he still allows a poor shot or two to snowball into prolonged lengths of poor play. That, plus his hot-headed nature on court do tend to get him in trouble. That, too, is something I’d expect him to clean up in due time.

That said, his talent is clear and he’s played (and beaten) plenty of strong players this season already. I have no issue backing this one to remain a close affair, with a small stake on him to win this one as well.

• Expert Tips: Over 22.5 Games at 2.20 with Unibet, using 2/10 stakes. Shevchenko to win at 2.75 with Bet365, using 1/10 stakes.

Odds as at 1:00 am UK Time on September 27th, 2023. Odds may now differ.

Read on for more expert insights.

Botic van de Zandschulp Recent Form

I’m actually fairly surprised to see the Dutchman so heavily favoured here, considering how poor he’s been for quite some time.

After losing the final in Munich in a deciding set tiebreak, van de Zandschulp went on a 2-8 run on tour, before winning a few matches at Davis Cup to go with his loss there. I’ll give him credit for the Tommy Paul win while representing his country, but losing to Otto Virtanen as a strong favourite and then needing a tight third set to beat Duje Ajdukovic – a clay-court natural who plays almost exclusively on the Challenger Tour – were certainly far from inspiring.

I do think his game is pretty solid. His first serve isn’t the biggest on tour, but I wouldn’t call it a liability either. The same can be said for most aspects of his game. The groundstrokes are fairly strong, but won’t blow anyone off the court and his movement is decent, but certainly not at a level that makes one think that he can extend rally after rally and just wait out opposition errors.

Alexander Shevchenko Recent Form

Shevchenko’s form hasn’t been the most convincing either, but the difference is he has found some victories of late. Granted, his wins have come at the Challenger level against Challenger level opposition.

The opposite of van de Zandschulp, it’s the lack of consistency in his game that has hurt him more than anything. When it’s on, he can blitz through a set against a lot of players. When it’s not, we see valleys in his game that lead to smashed racquets and dropped sets to players he has no business losing to.

The good news for him in Astana? The tournament is played indoors and on hard courts. Further, this year they’re using GreenSet courts, which tend to play a bit quicker and there’s about 350 metres of altitude.

That’s a confluence of factors that should lead to much shorter points, which should help him in minimising his error count.

Botic van de Zandschulp vs Alexander Shevchenko H2H – Stat of the Match

No previous meetings between these two to report on, but the stylistic contrast here should be a fun one to monitor.

The one thing I do find interesting statistically is that in each of their last 10 completed matches on the pro circuit, they’ve gone over the minimum number of sets played six times (van de Zandschulp) and eight times (Shevchenko). Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely do not believe in blindly betting the over here because of a trend like that.

What I do think this is indicative of is a pair of players that struggled to maintain consistent control of a match, leading to a deluge of close matches. Throw in quick courts that should lead to a plethora of service holds and we have a recipe for a long, close match in this one.

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