Semifinal previews and predictions: Bautista Agut vs. Zverev, Cilic vs. Schwartzman

Alexander Zverev, the last German standing in Munich, will try to treat the home crowd to a semifinal win over Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday. In  Istanbul, meanwhile, Marin Cilic is going up against defending champion Diego Schwartzman.

BMW Open: (3) Alexander Zverev vs. (2) Roberto Bautista Agut

Bautista Agut and Zverev will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they battle for a place in the Munich title match on Saturday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Bautista Agut’s way; 6-3, 6-2 on the clay courts of Hamburg in 2013 and 6-4, 6-1 two years ago in Rotterdam. Fast forward to 2017 and Zverev is obviously a much different opponent at 20 years old. The German is up to No. 20 in the world, boasts two career ATP titles (including earlier this season in Montpellier), and he recently made a run to the Miami Masters quarterfinals. So far this week Zverev has taken out Jeremy Chardy (6-4, 6-4) and Jan-Lennard Struff (in a third-set tiebreaker).

Similarly, Bautista Agut endured one scare on his way to the last four. The 18th-ranked Spaniard outlasted Marius Copil 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 in his opener before cruising past qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-3 on Friday. Bautista Agut is an outstanding 19-6 this year, but he does not have a single win over anyone ranked better than No. 23 in the world. That should not come as a big surprise, because Bautista Agut is great defender and rock-solid ball-striker but lacks the firepower to seriously trouble favored opponents. Even on clay, he will likely get hit off the court by Zverev at the end of what should be a competitive contest.

Pick: Zverev in 3

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Istanbul Open: (3) Diego Schwartzman vs. (2) Marin Cilic

Cilic may be heating up–finally–just in time for the French Open. A World Tour Finals participant last year, the eighth-ranked Croat won a mere five total matches (compared to seven losses) prior to this clay-court swing. But he reached the Monte-Carlo quarterfinals last month and so far in Istanbul has destroyed Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 6-2 and Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-1.

Up next for the second seed is a first-ever meeting with Schwartzman, the defending champion. Schwartzman is playing the best tennis of his life right now and recently peaked at a career-high of No. 34 in the world before his Istanbul points from 2016 came off the board on Monday. The 5’8” Argentine is 14-11 this year with quarterfinal results in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Monte-Carlo. Like Dzumhur and Darcis, however, Schwartzman is susceptible go getting overpowered by big-hitting opponents like Cilic. And because Cilic is playing with confidence again, that may happen on Saturday.

Pick: Cilic in 2

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