This weeks ATP Tennis action at Brisbane, Doha and Pune, India is now down to the semi-finals stages (Brisbane quarter-finals played this morning) and so far, there have been plenty of upsets and it’s been a great week for the Next Generation and lower ranked players. Top-seed Dimitrov (Advised 7/2) was due to face British number two Kyle Edmunds. My loyalties are split for this one, but I obviously want Dimitrov to win as I’ve advised him outright. If Edmund wins I will still be pleased as its good for British tennis and I also predicted in an earlier article he is on the verge of winning his first ATP title.
Third seed Kyrgios was due to face Dolgopolov, which should have been an entertaining encounter, as both players love to entertain and play aggressive, attacking and at times unorthodox tennis. There are no seeded players left in the bottom half of the Brisbane draw and this means we are guaranteed an unseeded finalist for only the fourth time over the last decade (2014 and 2008 unseeded player won and 2013 unseeded finalist).
Fourth seed Raonic was the biggest upset from the bottom half of the draw and he lost against Aussie Wild Card De Minaur, who is ranked 208 in the world. De Minaur was due to face American qualifier 19-year-old Mmoh, who is ranked 178 in the world, and he knocked out the experienced veteran and eighth seed Mischa Zverev. The remaining semi-final from the bottom half of the draw is between Istomin and Harrison and Istomin, who knocked out Djokovic at last years Australian Open, leads the head-to-head 2-1 and is my idea of the winner and the player to reach the final from the bottom half.
At Doha we are also guaranteed an unseeded player in the final from the bottom half of the draw as Next Generation star Rublev faces the more experienced Pella for a place in the final and this is the first time they have faced each other. There has never been an unseeded player win Doha over the last decade and only three unseeded finalists in this period (2008, 2013 and 2014). Top-seed Thiem is the only seed left in the Doha draw and he will face either Wild Card Monfils or Gojowczyk in today’s semi-finals.
At Pune, top-seed Cilic, second seed Anderson (Advised 7/2) and fourth seed Paire are all still in with a shout of reaching the final. Cilic faces the unseeded veteran Simon today, who knocked out third seed Bautista Agut as predicted, and the French veteran has a great chance of winning and reaching his first ATP final since Metz 2015 as he leads the head-to-head 5-1. The other semi-final is between second seed Anderson and fourth seed Paire. This is the first time they have met on the ATP tour and hopefully Anderson will win and put us in a good position for landing the outright tip on him.
