USA

Mackenzie McDonald

Russia

Aslan Karatsev

Karatsev will confidently win the first set

Russian Aslan Karatsev will play against American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round of the Masters in Rome. The match will take place on 9 May, starting at 16:30 Moscow time. McDonald is returning to the tour after an injury that forced him to miss almost four months. The American tennis player played his previous match back in mid-January when he lost to China's Juncheng Shan in the first round of the Australian Open. McDonald has not won a match so far this year. Before the Melbourne major, he failed to make it past the first round in Hong Kong and Adelaide. In the context of MacDonald's upcoming meeting with Aslan, it is important to note that he lost all six of his matches on dirt last year. Karatsev has also only recently returned from injury. He had to miss almost four months due to knee problems, which even required surgery to resolve. Initially it was expected that the Russian would miss up to six months, but in the end he recovered much faster. At the end of April, Karatsev lost to Fabian Marozhan at the start of the Masters in Madrid. Contrary to expectations, Aslan showed decent tennis, losing to the Hungarian only on two tie-breaks. At the same time, Karatsev failed to realise 11 (!) set points in the first game. Obviously, Aslan was in a hurry to recover for the tournament in the Spanish capital because he had to defend his points for last year's semi-final appearance. Alas, it didn't work out, although this idea initially looked doubtful. Bookmakers are confident of Karatsev's victory. Both players have only just recovered, but Aslan has a good chance to reach the next round. It will be very difficult for the American in his first match after a big break. Most likely, the Russian will take revenge on MacDonald for last year's defeat at the Toronto tournament. You can bet on Karatsev to win the first set with a (-1.5) game.