Auckland SF previews and predictions: Ferrer vs. Sock, Tsonga vs. Bautista Agut

Top two seeds David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are still alive in Auckland heading into the last two days of the tournament. They are set for respective semifinals on Friday against Jack Sock and Roberto Bautista Agut.

(1) David Ferrer vs. Jack Sock

Ferrer and Sock will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the ASB Classic final on Friday. Their only previous encounter came three seasons ago on the indoor hard courts of Stockholm, where Ferrer prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Fast forward to 2016 and Sock is a much different player. The 23-year-old American is up to No. 26 in the world and coming off a 2015 campaign in which he won 35 ATP-level matches despite missing the first two months due to injury. With no points to defend until March, Sock is already playing like he has nothing to lose. He punched his ticked to the Auckland semis by taking out Victor Estrella Burgos, Vasek Pospisil, and Kevin Anderson.

While Sock is contesting his first tournament of the year, Ferrer is bouncing back from an opening loss in Doha to Illya Marchenko. That prompted the top-seeded Spaniard to ask for a wild card this week, and the rest of the Auckland field may end up being quite disappointed with that development. The clear title favorite, Ferrer has kicked off his event with routine wins over Matthew Barton and Lukas Rosol. Sock has far more firepower than Barton and much greater consistency than Rosol, so Ferrer is in for a tough test. But the world No. 8 should eventually break down the underdog with tenacious defense just enough offense to keep Sock out of a rhythm.

Pick: Ferrer in 3

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(8) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (2) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Tsonga’s first tournament of the year is off to a fine start. The second-seeded Frenchman has mostly put injury concerns to rest with straight-set defeats of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Fabio Fognini. Tsonga served at 73 percent against Kohlschreiber and never dropped serve before holding all 12 of his service games against Fognini in a 7-5, 7-6(4) quarterfinal victory. The world No. 10 put in a less impressive 60 percent of his first deliveries against the Italian but fired 12 aces.

Bautista Agut is through to the last four following victories over Jiri Vesely, Donald Young, and John Isner while dropping only one set to Isner. The 25th-ranked Spaniard has already advanced one round further than he did in Chennai, where he beat John Millman before bowing out to Borna Coric. Bautista Agut underwhelmed for much of his match against Isner before the American gifted him a service break in the third set. Unless the eighth seed raises his level considerably, Tsonga will blast him off a hard court. The 2008 Australian Open runner-up hammered Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-2 last fall in Paris to improve to 2-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series.

Pick: Tsonga in 2

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