Doha QF previews and predictions: Coric vs. Rublev, Thiem vs. Tsitsipas

A trio of up-and-coming NextGen stars will be part of the quarterfinal schedule on Thursday in Doha. Borna Coric and Andrey Rublev are going head-to-head in an intriguing showdown, while Stefanos Tsitsipas is facing top seed Dominic Thiem.

Andrey Rublev vs. Borna Coric

Coric and Rublev will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers at the main-tour level when they battle for a spot in the semifinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Thursday afternoon. They recently faced each other at the inaugural NextGen ATP Finals in Milan, where Rublev won a semifinal encounter in straight sets. There is more at stake in what is one of the top 250-point ATP tournaments in tennis, and it is Coric who has more experience on this stage even though he is currently ranked nine spots below his opponent (39th and 48th). The 21-year-old Croat owns 81 ATP-level match victories following defeats this week of Pablo Carreno Busta and Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Rublev’s true announcement onto the scene came a few years after Coric, as the 20-year-old Russian made a surprising run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals this past summer. He ousted eventual Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov along the way before succumbing to Rafael Nadal. Rublev is picking up in 2018 where he left off last season, with Doha wins over Cedrik-Marcel Steve (via retirement) and Fernando Verdasco (6-4, 3-6, 6-4). In what is sure to be a competitive contest, Coric may be tougher mentally in the end–especially amidst what is sure to be difficult and blustery conditions.

Pick: Coric in 3

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(1) Dominic Thiem vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas

Tsitsipas entered 2018 with just four career ATP victories under his belt. He is halfway to matching that number in one tournament alone, as the 19-year-old Greek punched a ticket to the last eight by beating Florian Mayer and Richard Gasquet. That is not to say this result has come out of nowhere; far from it. Tsitsipas successfully qualified for his last five ATP tournaments of the 2017 campaign, even reaching the semifinals in the last one (Antwerp). Thereafter he finished runner-up at a Challenger event on the indoor hard courts of Brest, France.

The competition level gets even tougher on Thursday, with No. 1 seed and world No. 5 Thiem on the other side of the net. Thiem was once again a disaster on hard courts in 2017 relative to his prowess on clay, but he is off to a fine start this season. The 24-year-old Austrian did not drop a single set in either of his first two Doha matches while disposing of Evgeny Donskoy and Aljaz Bedene earlier this week. Tsitsipas will make things interesting, but Thiem’s experience should shine through at the tail end of each set.

Pick: Thiem in 2

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