It’s semi-finals day on the ATP Tour’s grass court tournaments at Eastbourne, England and over in Turkey at Antalya. At Eastbourne its not been a great week for seeded players as predicted in my article on Monday and British number one and second seed Edmunds was the latest casualty losing to the experienced veteran Kukushkin yesterday. French Open semi-finalist and fourth seed Cecchinato is ironically the only seeded player left, I say ironically as he has no form prior to this week at main ATP level on surfaces other than clay.

Cecchinato plays the unseeded veteran and journeyman Lacko for a place in Saturday’s final and this is only Lacko’s second ever main ATP level semi-final. The sign of a top tennis player is being adaptable to surfaces and conditions you may not be used to and Cecchinato has done that this week because he’s renowned as a clay courter and has no main ATP form on surfaces other than clay. He is motivated and competing well this week having come from a set down in his last match against Millman and if he continues playing like he has been, it’s going to be a difficult afternoon for Lacko.

The other semi-final at Eastbourne is between two unseeded veterans of the ATP Tour, Mischa Zverev (advised 25/1) and Kukushkin. The head-to-head stands at 3-2 to Zverev and he won their last three matches including in three sets at Indian Wells this year and at Wimbledon in five sets last year. If you backed Zverev outright I advise hedging him by backing Kukushkin to at least cover your outright stake.

At Antalya top-seed Mannarino (advised 7/1) is through to the semi-finals and he faces a tough task against compatriot and fourth seed Monfils. The head-to-head stands at 1-1 and both matches were at Wimbledon, the first Monfils won in straight sets back in 2015 but Mannarino got his revenge last year winning in five sets. If you backed Zverev outright I advise hedging him by backing Kukushkin to at least cover your outright stake.

The other semi-final at Antalya is between the unseeded Vesely and second seed Dzhumur. Both players have impressed reaching this stage, Vesely has won all three of his matches in straight sets including against third seed Verdasco. Dzumhur fought well coming from a set down to beat Copil in the second round and he was even more impressive beating the usually solid Herbert 6-4 6-1. Dzhumur leads the head-to-head 3-0 and the three matches were between 2012 and 2015 on clay, indoor and outdoor hard courts. Dzhumur is also a better player since then and as one of the best returners of serve on the ATP Tour i see him creating and taking more breaks of serve than Vesely today and reaching his third ATP final tomorrow.

Selections:

Antalya

Dzumhur to beat Vesely (21/20)