Line Calls presented by FanDuel Sportsbook: Andrey Rublev vs. Botic van de Zandschulp

If you haven’t seen US Open quarterfinalist Botic van de Zandschulp play before, you should know that his phenomenal combination of power and feel is tailor made for indoor tennis.

While the relatively slow court in St. Petersburg won’t do him many favors against Andrey Rublev, the Dutchman is simply too talented a player to be gifted 4.5 games in a best-of-three set match indoors. After winning two rounds to qualify, van de Zandschulp breezed past Yoshihito Nishioka and Sebastian Korda in straight sets.

I do not bet against Andrey Rublev lightly, especially indoors, and while he is still a phenomenal player, he is absolutely at his lowest point tennis-wise in the last two years. Rublev is 5-4 in his last nine ATP matches.

Rublev's recent form aside, the primary reason for this play is van de Zandschulp’s incredible improvisational skills, most notably his sharp angled backhand slice. There’s no shot Rublev hates more than a short and knifing crosscourt backhand slice, as it forces him to do two things he’d prefer not to do on a court: hit low backhands over the high part of the net, and transition forward.

Van de Zandschulp is an intelligent player, and knows he has no business engaging Rublev in hard-hitting groundstroke exchanges. The Dutchman will also look to capitalize on any Rublev second serve, as he routinely cracks second-serve returns with his wild but powerful forehand.

If Rublev plays at his highest level, this is obviously a dumb bet, but the Russian hasn’t been his best lately, and van de Zandschulp is a very dangerous opponent.