Jozef Kovalik and Zhizhen Zhang will fight against each other in the semifinal of the Luedenscheid Challenger for the 3rd time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 1:00 pm on CENTRE COURT. Here the head to head stats and relative prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Jozef Kovalik who should win in 3 sets.
As per the initial odds, Jozef Kovalik is the pick to win this match.
Jozef Kovalik -> 1.6
Zhizhen Zhang -> 2.34
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Prediction and head to head Jozef Kovalik vs. Zhizhen Zhang
This will be the 3rd time that Jozef Kovalik and Zhizhen Zhang clash against each other. The head to head is 1-1 (see full H2H stats), 1-0 on clay.
The last time that they fought against each other, Zhang won 6-4 6-4 in the qualifications in Hamburg back in 2021.
Jozef Kovalik
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 30-14 | 3-4 | 27-9 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 23-34 | 1-3 | 21-28 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 33-23 | 3-6 | 29-13 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 31-27 | 0-1 | 26-20 | 5-5 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 17-16 | 2-3 | 15-12 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 204, the Slovakian got to the semifinal after beating Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-3 6-4, Oleksii Krutykh 4-6 6-1 7-5 and Robin Haase 6-3 6-2.
In the quarter, The Slovakian had a good straight sets win against Haase (6-3 6-2). During the match, Kovalik scored 65 points vs Haase’s 47. Jozef was very aggressive to blast 26 winners.
Talking about the service games, Kovalik struck 2 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Jozef Kovalik was quite efficient on serve to win 87% (26/30) of his 1st serve and 56% (15/27) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Jozef broke Haase 3 times after converting 60% of his break points (3/5).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Kovalik has lost 1 set in this competition to conquer 55% of the points he played.
Kovalik has a favorable record in the last 10 years having won 58% of his matches (332-245). 15-8 on clay in 2022. Regarding his performance on the same surface of this tournament, Kovalik has a composed 257-158 record in the last years on clay.
Kovalik’s best result of the season was getting to the semifinal in the Oeiras 2 Challenger.
Jozef has a composed 17-14 win-loss record in 2022, 15-8 on clay (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Luedenscheid Challenger
The Slovakian has never competed in this tournament before.
Zhizhen Zhang
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 17-18 | 4-7 | 7-5 | 2-2 | 4-4 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 30-29 | 12-13 | 15-10 | 1-2 | 2-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 52-28 | 11-5 | 31-11 | 9-11 | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 15-12 | 1-1 | 9-6 | 0-1 | 5-4 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 1-6 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 281, Zhizhen got to the semifinal after beating Javier Barranco Cosano 7-5 6-3, Manuel Guinard 6-1 7-5 and Pablo Cuevas 6-3 6-1.
In the quarter, Zhizhen had a good straight sets win against Cuevas (6-3 6-1). During the match Zhang scored 54 points vs Cuevas’s 34. Zhizhen was exceptionally aggressive to blast 27 winners.
About the serving games, Zhang bagged 4 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Zhizhen Zhang conceded no breaks for the entire match to save 1 break points. Furthermore, Zhang put 71% of his first serves in, winning 84% (27/32) of the points behind his 1st serve and 46% (6/13) on the 2nd serve. Zhang was clinical in his return game without wasting any break point and break Cuevas 4 times.
Overall Performance in this tournament
Zhizhen hasn’t dropped yet a set in the tournament to win 57% of the points he played.
Zhang’s best result of the current season was reaching the semifinal in the Tallahassee Challenger and the Tunis Challenger.
Zhang has an aggregate 19-17 win-loss record in 2022, 14-8 on clay (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Kovalik | Zhang |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 3 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 7 | 6 |
| Tot Games | 65 | 56 |
| Pts | 241-198 | 201-152 |
| Total Points | 439 | 353 |
| Winners | 101 | 72 |
| %Winners | 42% | 36% |
Both Kovalik and Zhang played 3 matches. At the moment, Jozef Kovalik lost 1 set while Zhizhen Zhang hasn’t dropped a set so far. Kovalik has played 1 set more than Zhang (7 vs 6). Therefore, Kovalik played 9 games more than Zhang. The Slovakian scored 101 winners (42% of the total points). On the other side, Zhang recorded 72 winners (36%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Kovalik | Zhang |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 5 | 14 |
| Avg per match | 1.7 | 4.7 |
| 1st in | 134/225 | 98/170 |
| %1st in | 60% | 58% |
| 1st pts | 101/134 | 72/98 |
| %1st pts | 75% | 73% |
| 2nd pts | 45/91 | 35/72 |
| %2nd pts | 49% | 49% |
Kovalik scored 5 aces (1.7 per match). Zhang fired 14 aces (4.7 per match). Kovalik won 75% points on his first serve. He pretty effective on his second serve to win 49% of the points. On the other side, Zhang won 73% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 49% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Kovalik | Zhang |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 11 | 16 |
| Converted | 11/29 | 16/31 |
| % Converted | 38% | 52% |
| Conceded | 15 | 12 |
| Saved | 11 | 6 |
| % Saved | 73% | 50% |
| Times Broken | 4 | 6 |
The Slovakian broke his opponents 11 times with a 38% conversion rate. The Slovakian surrendered his serve 4 times and he saved 73% of the break points that he conceded. Zhang broke his opponents 16 times with a 52% conversion rate. Zhizhen conceded his serve 6 times and he saved 50% of the break points that he conceded.
| Kovalik | |||||
| R1 Stebe |
R2 Krutykh |
1/4 Haase |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-3 6-4 | 4-6 6-1 7-5 | 6-3 6-2 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | |
| Tot Games | 19 | 29 | 17 | 65 | |
| pts | 75-62 | 101-89 | 65-47 | 241-198 | |
| Total points | 137 | 190 | 112 | 439 | |
| Winners | 32 | 43 | 26 | 101 | |
| %Winners | 43% | 43% | 40% | 42% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| 1st in | 42/71 | 62/97 | 30/57 | 134/225 | |
| % 1st in | 59% | 64% | 53% | 60% | |
| 1st pts | 32/42 | 43/62 | 26/30 | 101/134 | |
| % 1st pts | 76% | 69% | 87% | 75% | |
| 2nd pts | 14/29 | 16/35 | 15/27 | 45/91 | |
| % 2nd pts | 48% | 46% | 56% | 49% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 | |
| Converted | 3/11 | 5/13 | 3/5 | 11/29 | |
| Converted % | 27% | 38% | 60% | 38% | |
| Conceded | 4 | 7 | 4 | 15 | |
| Saved | 3/4 | 4/7 | 4/4 | 11 | |
| Saved % | 75% | 57% | 100% | 77% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| Zhang | |||||
| R1 Barranco |
R2 Guinard |
1/4 Cuevas |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 7-5 6-3 | 6-1 7-5 | 6-3 6-1 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| Tot Games | 21 | 19 | 16 | 56 | |
| pts | 79-67 | 68-51 | 54-34 | 201-152 | |
| Total points | 146 | 119 | 88 | 353 | |
| Winners | 17 | 28 | 27 | 72 | |
| %Winners | 22% | 41% | 50% | 36% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 5 | 5 | 4 | 14 | |
| Double Faults | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | |
| 1st in | 29/62 | 37/63 | 32/45 | 98/170 | |
| % 1st in | 47% | 59% | 71% | 58% | |
| 1st pts | 17/29 | 28/37 | 27/32 | 72/98 | |
| % 1st pts | 59% | 76% | 84% | 73% | |
| 2nd pts | 17/33 | 12/26 | 6/13 | 35/72 | |
| % 2nd pts | 52% | 46% | 46% | 49% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 | |
| Converted | 7/18 | 5/9 | 4/4 | 16/31 | |
| Converted % | 39% | 56% | 100% | 52% | |
| Conceded | 8 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |
| Saved | 4/8 | 1/3 | 1/1 | 6 | |
| Saved % | 50% | 33% | 100% | 61% | |
| Times Broken | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |
Head 2 Head
WWWLLWWWLW
LWLLWWWLLW Tennis Scores in Luedenscheid Challenger
- Zhizhen ZhangZhang – Pablo CuevasCuevas (6-3 6-1) – See score progression
- Jozef KovalikKovalik – Robin HaaseHaase (6-3 6-2) – See score progression
- Hamad MedjedovicMedjedovic – Marco CecchinatoCecchinato (6-1 6-1) – See score progression
- Nicolas JarryJarry – Santiago Fa Rodriguez TavernaFa Rodriguez Taverna (4-6 6-4 6-2) – See score progression
- Fabian Fallert/Hendrik JebensFallert/Hendrik Jebens – Albano Olivetti/Fernando RomboliOlivetti/Fernando Romboli (6-2 3-6 10-4) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Zhizhen ZhangZhang – Jozef KovalikKovalik (1-1) – H2H and prediction
- Nicolas JarryJarry – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
