Alafia Ayeni and Maxim Zhukov will face off in the qualifications of the Istanbul Challenger for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Monday at 10:00 am on CENTER COURT. In the following paragraphs, you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Alafia Ayeni who should win in 3 sets.
As per the initial odds, Alafia Ayeni is the pick to win this match.
Alafia Ayeni -> 1.46
Maxim Zhukov -> 2.59
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Prediction and head to head Alafia Ayeni vs. Maxim Zhukov
There is no head to head record between Alafia Ayeni and Maxim Zhukov since this will be the first time that they will square off in the main tour.
Alafia Ayeni
25 - 25win/loss
471
395
LLWWLLLWWW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 30-31 | 24-21 | 6-8 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 23-22 | 17-13 | 1-3 | 5-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 24-19 | 22-15 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 27-20 | 12-10 | 3-2 | 11-7 | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| 2020 | 5-7 | 3-3 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 |
Ranked no. 451, Alafia got to the qualifications after beating Cemil Duran 6-2 6-2.
In the qualifications, Alafia had a good straight sets win against Duran (6-2 6-2). During the match, Ayeni scored 60 points vs Duran’s 43. Ayeni was quite aggressive to blast 21 winners.
Regarding the service games, Ayeni made 2 aces and he committed only 1 double fault. Alafia Ayeni lost the serve once and he saved 3 break points. Furthermore, Ayeni put 69% of his first serves in, winning 64% (21/33) of the points behind his 1st serve and 67% (10/15) on the 2nd serve. Alafia broke Duran 5 times after converting 56% of his break points (5/9).
Ayeni has a winning record in the last 9 years having won 52% of his matches (167-153). 19-16 on hard in 2024. Regarding his performance on the same surface of this event, Ayeni has a composed108-99 record in the last 9 years on hard.
Ayeni’s best result of the year was getting to the final in M15 San Diego and M25 Astana.
Ayeni has an aggregate 25-24 win-loss record in 2024, 19-16 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Istanbul Challenger
Ayeni has never competed in this tournament before.
Maxim Zhukov
29 - 20win/loss
738
711
LWWLWLWWLW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 35-28 | 22-17 | 13-11 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 31-25 | 17-14 | 14-9 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 30-22 | 13-11 | 16-10 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 748 (career-high), Zhukov got to the qualifications after beating Kimmer Coppejans 6-4 6-3.
In the qualifications, The Russian had a good straight sets win against Coppejans (6-4 6-3). During the match Zhukov scored 59 points vs Coppejans’s 50. The Russian was extremely aggressive to blast 20 winners.
Talking about serving, Zhukov managed to score 6 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Maxim Zhukov lost the serve 4 times and he saved 3 break points. Furthermore, Zhukov put 55% of his first serves in, winning 63% (20/32) of the points behind his 1st serve and 42% (11/26) on the 2nd serve. The Russian broke Coppejans 6 times after converting 60% of his break points (6/10).
Maxim’s best result of the current season was getting to the semifinal in Kamenogorsk.
The Russian has a composed 28-20 win-loss record in 2024, 15-11 on hard (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Ayeni | Zhukov |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 1 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 |
| Tot Games | 16 | 19 |
| Pts | 60-43 | 59-50 |
| Total Points | 103 | 109 |
| Winners | 21 | 20 |
| %Winners | 35% | 34% |
Both Ayeni and Zhukov played 1 match. Also both players started their run from the qualifications.Both players have not conceded a single set in this event so far. Talking about their workload, Ayeni and Zhukov have played the same amount of sets 2. However, Ayeni played 3 games less than Zhukov. The American scored 21 winners (35% of the total points). On the other side, Zhukov scored 20 winners (34%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Ayeni | Zhukov |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 2 | 6 |
| Avg per match | 2 | 6 |
| 1st in | 33/48 | 32/58 |
| %1st in | 69% | 55% |
| 1st pts | 21/33 | 20/32 |
| %1st pts | 64% | 63% |
| 2nd pts | 10/15 | 11/26 |
| %2nd pts | 67% | 42% |
Ayeni scored 2 aces . Zhukov made 6 aces . Ayeni won 64% points behind his first serve. He pretty effective on his second serve to win 67% of the points. On the other side, Zhukov won 63% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 42% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Ayeni | Zhukov |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 5 | 6 |
| Converted | 5/9 | 6/10 |
| % Converted | 56% | 60% |
| Conceded | 4 | 7 |
| Saved | 3 | 3 |
| % Saved | 75% | 43% |
| Times Broken | 1 | 4 |
Ayeni broke his opponent 5 times with a 56% conversion rate. The American surrendered his serve once and he saved 75% of the break points that he conceded. Maxim broke his opponent 6 times with a 60% conversion rate. Zhukov conceded his serve 4 times and he saved 43% of the break points that he conceded.
| Ayeni | |||
| Q1 Duran |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-2 6-2 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 16 | 16 | |
| pts | 60-43 | 60-43 | |
| Total points | 103 | 103 | |
| Winners | 21 | 21 | |
| %Winners | 35% | 35% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 2 | 2 | |
| Double Faults | 1 | 1 | |
| 1st in | 33/48 | 33/48 | |
| % 1st in | 69% | 69% | |
| 1st pts | 21/33 | 21/33 | |
| % 1st pts | 64% | 64% | |
| 2nd pts | 10/15 | 10/15 | |
| % 2nd pts | 67% | 67% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 5 | 5 | |
| Converted | 5/9 | 5/9 | |
| Converted % | 56% | 56% | |
| Conceded | 4 | 4 | |
| Saved | 3/4 | 3 | |
| Saved % | 75% | 75% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 1 | |
| Zhukov | |||
| Q1 Coppejans |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-4 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 19 | 19 | |
| pts | 59-50 | 59-50 | |
| Total points | 109 | 109 | |
| Winners | 20 | 20 | |
| %Winners | 34% | 34% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 6 | 6 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 4 | |
| 1st in | 32/58 | 32/58 | |
| % 1st in | 55% | 55% | |
| 1st pts | 20/32 | 20/32 | |
| % 1st pts | 63% | 63% | |
| 2nd pts | 11/26 | 11/26 | |
| % 2nd pts | 42% | 42% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 6 | 6 | |
| Converted | 6/10 | 6/10 | |
| Converted % | 60% | 60% | |
| Conceded | 7 | 7 | |
| Saved | 3/7 | 3 | |
| Saved % | 43% | 43% | |
| Times Broken | 4 | 4 | |
Head 2 Head
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