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WATCH: The betting plays on Djokovic's 2023 major title haul

Jannik Sinner won Montpellier last week, earning straight-set victories each match. Now, he'll look to do something that has proven more difficult: defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas. In their six career meetings, Sinner is 1-5. The two most recently met at this year's Australian Open, where Sinner erased a two-set deficit—before failing to complete the comeback in the fifth. Will things go any differently this time around?

Before they clashed in Melbourne, Tsitsipas hadn’t dropped a set to Sinner in their previous three clashes. While that says a lot about the Greek, the fact that the Italian was able to grab two sets shows that he's made some significant improvements to his game. Between that near-win and his more recent title run, Sinner should enter this match with lots of confidence. The 21-year-old is clearly a Top 10 talent on tour, even if his No. 14 ranking says otherwise.

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GSB Feb 15 2023-1

GSB Feb 15 2023-1

But Tsistipas should feel good about his game as well, coming off a run to the Australian Open final. He was remarkable throughout the event, and his weakest shot, his backhand, held up very well throughout. And since his loss to an in-form Novak Djokovic in Melbourne, the 24-year-old went undefeated in singles play at Davis Cup, then made light work of Emil Ruusuvuori in the first round of this tournament, earning a 7-5, 6-1 win in only an hour and 33 minutes.

Having the chance to face a powerful player like Ruusuvuori should also have Tsitsipas ready to face Sinner. The reality here is that the on-court matchup significantly favors Tsitsipas, and it all comes down to serving. Not only does Tsitsipas have a 91.4% hold percentage this season, but he consistently comes up with clutch serves in big moments. Sinner uses his length well as a returner, but that won't matter if Tsitsipas is hitting his spots.

As well, Sinner arguably has the worst serve of any of the game’s elite players. So, Tsitsipas should see some break point opportunities.

Overall, Sinner probably isn’t far away from getting over the hump in this head-to-head series. Mentally, he’s a different player than he was a few years ago. But there are clearly some demons when he sees Tsitsipas on the other side of the net. And we just need more proof that Sinner has gotten his serve right before backing him here, despite the heavy juice.

BET: Tsitsipas To Win (-175)