Roman Safiullin will face Karen Khachanov at the 2023 ATP Vienna tennis event this week. The match will be an All-Russian affair with a spot in the second round of the 500-series event at stake at the 2023 Erst Bank Open. With the start time of the match not far off, I will get right down to business. My Safiullin vs Khachanov prediction is that the latter will win this match.

Order of Play: Right-click/Open in the New Tab to check match times: subject to change

Roman Safiullin vs Karen Khachanov Head-to-Head Series

These two players have not contested a match against one another. They were scheduled to meet in Belgrade in the 2022 season. However, the result was a walkover in Khachanov’s favor.

On short-term form, Safiullin has not quite been playing as well as Khachanov. Over roughly the last month, Safiullin has contested ten matches. He has won seven of them, including wins over Andy Murray, Alexander Zverev, and Daniel Evans.

Khachanov has appeared in eight matches over roughly the last month. He has gone 5-3 in those matches, which included a win over Sebastian Korda. Korda has certainly been one of the more difficult players to beat in recent events. Also, Khachanov claimed a title at the 250-level event in Zhuhai. My expectation was that Khachanov would be the mild favorite in this upcoming match, however, he is the small underdog by betting odds.

The Draw: Right-click/Open in the New Tab for the draw for the 2023 Erst Bank Open

Safiullin vs Khachanov Prediction: Khachanov wins

Safiullin is coming in at -125 in this match (bet365). It’s probable that Khachanov’s loss last week to Alexei Popyrin has scared some away from backing the Russian. It has, in fact, taken a pretty strong player to defeat Safiullin in recent events. But I like Khachanov to serve really well in this upcoming contest because of the week he has had off. My recommendation is to take him at +100 (bet365) on the moneyline.

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