Michael Zheng and Rafael Jodar will clash against each other in the semifinal of the Tiburon Challenger for the 1^st time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Saturday at 3:00 pm on KENNEDY-GROSSMAN. Here the head to head stats and relative prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Michael Zheng who should win in 3 sets.

As per the initial odds, Michael Zheng is the pick to win this match.
Michael Zheng -> 1.68
Rafael Jodar -> 2.1

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Prediction and head to head Michael Zheng vs. Rafael Jodar

There is no head to head record between Michael Zheng and Rafael Jodar since this will be the first time that they will fight against each other in the main tour.

Michael Zheng

Ranked no. 228, Zheng reached the semifinal after defeating Oliver Tarvet 6-4 6-3, Olle Wallin 6-4 6-1 and Mitchell Krueger 7-5 6-3.

In the quarter, The American had a good straight sets win against Krueger (7-5 6-3). During the match, Zheng scored 87 points vs Krueger’s 75. Michael was very aggressive to blast 30 winners.

Talking about the service games, Zheng made 5 aces and he committed only 3 double faults. Michael Zheng lost the serve twice and he saved 6 break points. Furthermore, Zheng put 61% of his first serves in, winning 65% (30/46) of the points behind his 1st serve and 53% (16/30) on the 2nd serve. The American broke Krueger 4 times after converting 36% of his break points (4/11).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The American hasn’t lost yet a set in this event to conquer 56% of the points he played.

Zheng has a solid win-loss record in the last 5 years having won 65% of his matches (67-36). 20-6 on hard in 2025. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this tournament, Zheng has an overall45-23 match record in the last 5 years on hard.

His best result of the current season was winning the title the Chicago Challenger where he beat Yu Hsiou Hsu in the final 6-4 6-2 and the Columbus Challenger where he overcame Martin Damm in the final 3-6 6-3 7-5.

Zheng has an overall 27-8 win-loss record in 2025, 20-6 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Tiburon Challenger

Zheng has never competed in this tournament before.

Rafael Jodar

Ranked no. 309, Rafael reached the semifinal after beating Andre Ilagan 6-3 3-6 6-1, Jack Pinnington Jones 6-2 6-3 and Nicolas Mejia 6-0 6-2.

In the quarter, Rafael had a good straight sets win against Mejia (6-0 6-2). During the match Jodar scored 61 points vs Mejia’s 36. Rafael was quite aggressive to blast 16 winners.

Talking about serving, Jodar managed to score 4 aces and he was extremely solid in conceding no double faults for the entire match. Rafael Jodar was exceptionally effective on serve to win 76% (16/21) of his 1st serve and 76% (13/17) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. The Spaniard broke Mejia 5 times after converting 26% of his break points (5/19).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Rafael has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 58% of the points he played.

His best result of the current year was winning the title the Hersonissos 3 Challenger where he beat Dan Added in the final 6-4 6-2.

Jodar has a compiled 28-10 win-loss record in 2025, 23-8 on hard (See FULL STATS).

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Zheng	Jodar
Match played	3	3
Tot Set	6	7
Tot Games	57	56
Pts	213-167	223-162
Total Points	380	385
Winners	75	74
%Winners	35%	33%

Both Zheng and Jodar played 3 matches. At the moment, Rafael Jodar dropped 1 set while Michael Zheng hasn’t lost a set so far. Zheng has played 1 set(s) less than Jodar (6 vs 7). However, it’s interesting to notice that Zheng played 1 game more than Jodar. Michael scored 75 winners (35% of the total points). On the other side, Rafael struck 74 winners (33%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Zheng	Jodar
Aces	12	20
Avg per match	4	6.7
1st in	99/168	98/173
%1st in	59%	57%
1st pts	75/99	74/98
%1st pts	76%	76%
2nd pts	35/69	43/75
%2nd pts	51%	57%

Zheng bagged 12 aces (4 per match). Jodar scored 20 aces (6.7 per match). Zheng won 76% points behind his first serve. He quite strong on his second serve to win 51% of the points. On the other side, Jodar won 76% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 57% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Zheng	Jodar
Won	13	14
Converted	13/31	14/42
% Converted	42%	33%
Conceded	14	9
Saved	10	5
% Saved	71%	56%
Times Broken	4	4

Zheng broke his opponents 13 times with a 42% conversion rate. Michael lost his serve 4 times and he saved 71% of the break points that he conceded. The Spaniard broke his opponents 14 times with a 33% conversion rate. Jodar conceded his serve 4 times and he saved 56% of the break points that he conceded.

Zheng
	R1 Tarvet	R2 Wallin	1/4 Krueger	Total
Score	6-4 6-3	6-4 6-1	7-5 6-3
Tot Set	2	2	2	6
Tot Games	19	17	21	57
pts	63-55	63-37	87-75	213-167
Total points	118	100	162	380
Winners	20	25	30	75
%Winners	32%	40%	34%	35%
SERVE
Aces	3	4	5	12
Double Faults	1	0	3	4
1st in	27/53	26/39	46/76	99/168
% 1st in	51%	67%	61%	59%
1st pts	20/27	25/26	30/46	75/99
% 1st pts	74%	96%	65%	76%
2nd pts	12/26	7/13	16/30	35/69
% 2nd pts	46%	54%	53%	51%
Breaks
Won	5	4	4	13
Converted	5/13	4/7	4/11	13/31
Converted %	38%	57%	36%	42%
Conceded	6	0	8	14
Saved	4/6	0/0	6/8	10
Saved %	67%	–	75%	47%
Times Broken	2	0	2	4

Jodar
	R1 Ilagan	R2 Pinnington	1/4 Mejia	Total
Score	6-3 3-6 6-1	6-2 6-3	6-0 6-2
Tot Set	3	2	2	7
Tot Games	25	17	14	56
pts	98-85	64-41	61-36	223-162
Total points	183	105	97	385
Winners	37	21	16	74
%Winners	38%	33%	26%	33%
SERVE
Aces	10	6	4	20
Double Faults	2	3	0	5
1st in	50/84	27/51	21/38	98/173
% 1st in	60%	53%	55%	57%
1st pts	37/50	21/27	16/21	74/98
% 1st pts	74%	78%	76%	76%
2nd pts	17/34	13/24	13/17	43/75
% 2nd pts	50%	54%	76%	57%
Breaks
Won	4	5	5	14
Converted	4/13	5/10	5/19	14/42
Converted %	31%	50%	26%	33%
Conceded	6	3	0	9
Saved	4/6	1/3	0/0	5
Saved %	67%	33%	–	33%
Times Broken	2	2	0	4

Tennis Scores in Tiburon Challenger

• Rafael JodarJodar – Nicolas MejiaMejia (6-0 6-2) – See score progression
• Abedallah ShelbayhShelbayh – Dmitry PopkoPopko (6-4 6-2) – See score progression
• Michael ZhengZheng – Mitchell KruegerKrueger (7-5 6-3) – See score progression
• Tyler ZinkZink – Samir BanerjeeBanerjee (6-4 1-6 6-3) – See score progression
• Benjamin Kittay/Joshua SheehyKittay/Joshua Sheehy – Marek Gengel/Dmitry PopkoGengel/Dmitry Popko (7-5 6-3) – See score progression
• Rafael JodarJodar – Nicolas MejiaMejia (6-0 6-2) – See score progression

Upcoming matches in the draw