Sports Mole previews Wednesday's ATP Finals round-robin match between Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud, including predictions, head-to-head and their tournament so far.

Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud, leaders in the John Newcombe Group, face off in the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday, keen to record success in their second round-robin outings. Both players notched two-set victories in match one, and the victor in their sixth ATP Tour match-up could advance to the year-end tournament's semi-final.

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Match preview

Zverev played clinical tennis to dispatch Andrey Rublev in two sets (64, 6-4) to clinch a 67th victory this year, taking him one higher than Jannik Sinner, who moved level with the German after Sunday's tournament-opening success over Alex de Minaur. The world No. 2 gave little away on his serve, facing zero break points, and converted both opportunities on the Russian's deliveries to decide the match, thus improving to 7-3 in their head-to-head. The German player is possibly the second-favourite to clinch his third title at the season finale, and he aims to strengthen those prospects by beating Ruud to continue his ongoing winning streak following his recent Paris Masters success. Since losing to Lorenzo Musetti in Vienna, Zverev has secured six straight victories before Wednesday, dropping just one set to Arthur Fils during that run. Keen to improve on his 6-0 run, the 27-year-old 23-time tour champion bids for a seventh straight triumph and 68th this season at the world No. 7's expense. Ruud was anticipated to come into Wednesday after losing to Carlos Alcaraz for the fifth meeting in a row, but the Norwegian had other ideas to stun the Spaniard 6-1, 7-5. Although the 25-year-old notched five consecutive games in set one to clinch it comfortably, repeating the same streak to overturn a 2-5 deficit against an out-of-sorts opponent to claim the second set and the match was commendable. Having improved on his previous 0-4 record against Alcaraz, the 2021 semi-finalist and 2022 runner-up bids for a seventh ATP Finals victory by beating the German. However, those prospects could be harmed by a disappointing run in the lead-up to the ongoing event in Turin, highlighted by a 2-9 record before beating the world No. 3. While he improved to 3-9 by notching his first tour triumph against the Spaniard, facing a player in superior form in Zverev could inflict a defeat in Turin and 10th in the current stretch of matches.

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Tournament so far

Alexander Zverev: Round robin: vs. Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4 Casper Ruud: Round robin: vs. Carlos Alcaraz 6-1 7-5

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Head To Head

French Open (2024) - Semi-final: Zverev 2-6 6-2 6-4 6-2 French Open (2023) - Semi-finals: Ruud 6-3 6-4 6-0 Miami Open (2022) - Quarter-finals: Ruud 6-3 1-6 6-3 Paris Masters (2021) - Quarter-finals: Zverev 7-5 6-4 Cincinnati Open (2021) - Quarter-finals: Zverev 6-1 6-3 Zverev leads his head-to-head with Ruud 3-2 after edging ahead with a semi-final victory over the Norwegian at Roland Garros earlier this season. The German notched consecutive successes to lead 2-0, but the three-time Grand Slam finalist pegged back the 23-time tour winner with back-to-back wins. Ruud's only top-10 defeats this year were against De Minaur and Zverev, and the 25-year-old aims to improve his 5-2 record against such opponents. Victory over Zverev and an Alcaraz win over Rublev means the Norwegian advances to the semis, although that spot will go to the German if he triumphs and the Russian gets the better of Alcaraz.

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We say: Zverev to win in two sets

Despite Ruud previously posing problems for Zverev, the German player's superior form heading into their sixth meeting makes him the favourite to extend an ongoing six-match winning run to improve to 4-2 against the 12-time tour winner.

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