Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the Miami Masters match.
Andrey Rublev comes into his opening match in Miami under pressure, having failed to win a single match at his last two tournaments. Meanwhile, Zizou Bergs, despite showing improvement this season, has been stuck at the second-round stage—exactly where this matchup falls once again.
Zizou Bergs
The Belgian advanced past Nuno Borges in the first round, which wasn’t a surprise considering he had already beaten the Portuguese player twice this year. This time, he wrapped it up in straight sets (7:6, 7:5), though it still took 2 hours and 24 minutes—a physical outing. Bergs and Rublev have met once before, in Rotterdam 2024, where the Russian won (7:5, 6:3) by taking a single break in each set. Since then, however, Bergs has climbed from No. 132 to No. 51 in the rankings and already holds 13 match wins in 2025—more than Rublev’s 9.
Andrey Rublev
Rublev has shown flashes of brilliance this season, but consistency remains an issue. He reached the Doha final in February, where he outlasted big-hitting Jack Draper (7:5, 5:7, 6:1), but followed that up with a first-round loss to Matteo Arnaldi in Indian Wells (4:6, 5:7). That match was particularly frustrating—Rublev led 3:0 in the second set before collapsing.
Zizou Bergs vs Andrey Rublev Prediction
The Russian is still favoured here, but his volatile form means a clean, quick win is far from guaranteed. Their only previous meeting was competitive, and given Rublev's recent tendency to let sets slip or get drawn into long rallies, this match has every chance to go the distance or include a tie-break.
