Can the Spanish underdog stand up to Zverev?
The Erste Bank Open in Vienna is kicking off, and we’ve got a pick and odds for top favorite Alex Zverev’s opening match against Martin Landaluce. With only five tournaments left on the 2026 ATP calendar, one thing is already certain: this has been the Hamburg native’s year. With two Grand Slam titles under his belt, he’s set to become the world No. 1 by the end of the year—the first German to do so since Boris Becker in 1991!
Zverev won the tournament on the Danube in 2021, but last year he lost the final to Jannik Sinner. As is well known, the Italian is not competing this year. The competition for Zverev remains tough, however: Six top-ten players are in the draw, and Carlos Alcaraz is also making his first appearance in five years.
To start things off, the Hamburg native will face a player he has never played before, and getting off to a good start in a tournament is traditionally not easy. This was already evident last year with Zverev, when he was only able to prevail in three sets against Britain’s Jacob Fearnley in his opening match. His upcoming opponent from Spain has also recently gained a new boost of confidence after reaching a Challenger final in Jinan for the third time in his career.
Alexander Zverev – Martin Landaluce Head-to-Head Record
The German and the Spaniard are facing each other on the court for the first time. For this debut matchup between Alexander Zverev and Martin Landaluce, the odds clearly favor the future world No. 1.
Alexander Zverev vs. Martin Landaluce Prediction
Six German victories, including two by Tommy Haas, have been recorded at the ATP tournament in Vienna, which has been held since 1974. There’s good reason to believe Alex Zverev could soon add a seventh title to that list. However, the Hamburg native’s form has dipped recently.
At the Shanghai Masters, he suffered a surprising defeat in the semifinals against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Now he’s set to face another Spaniard, Martin Landaluce. Landaluce is competing only thanks to a wild card and has yet to win a title on the ATP Tour, but he recently reached the Challenger final in Jinan, China.
He then lost a close match in Lyon to Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka in three sets, two of which were decided in tiebreaks. Like Zverev, the world No. 67 can look back on a successful year, during which the Madrid native reached two quarterfinals at Masters tournaments.
The improvement in his performance is also evident in the fact that he is currently in third place—and thus in a very promising position—in the race to qualify for the upcoming “Next Gen ATP Finals,” which feature the season’s top players aged 20 and under. With that in mind, we see value in the underdog winning a set in the match between Alexander Zverev and Martin Landaluce, based on the betting odds.
