Three seeded players remain at the Hall of Fame Open, and two will go head-to-head when Alexander Bublik battles Kevin Anderson on Saturday. Semifinal action also pits Jordan Thompson against Jenson Brooksby.
(1) Alexander Bublik vs. (8) Kevin Anderson
Bublik said earlier this week that he is playing in Newport instead of getting ready for the Olympics because he doesn’t like to practice. Another reason for his participation is that he finished runner-up in Newport two years ago and he has a great chance to win his first ATP title this week. Seeded first, Bublik has maintained his outstanding form in 2021 with victories over Ivo Karlovic and Jason Jung. The 37th-ranked Kazakh has won 26 matches on the main tour this year, seven of which have come on grass.
Up next for Bublik on Saturday is a first-ever meeting with Anderson, who has advanced by taking out Ilya Marchenko, Sebastian Ofner, and Jack Sock–dropping just one set to Sock in the process. The 113th-ranked South African is through to only his second ATP semifinal since capturing the Pune title in January of 2019. Anderson cannot be relied upon to play four solid matches in succession at this point in his career and Bublik is extremely confident right now, so this should be mostly straightforward. Of course, the grass-court surface and Anderson’s huge serve could lead to at least one tiebreaker.
Pick: Bublik in 2
Jenson Brooksby vs. (7) Jordan Thompson
Thompson and Brooksby will also be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers, which is not surprising given that Brooksby is just now emerging on the scene. The 20-year-old American has been one of the tour’s breakout stars in 2021, basically dominating the Challenger circuit with three titles and one runner-up finish. He is 28-3 in his last 31 matches overall following Newport wins over Evgeny Donskoy, Denis Kudla, and Peter Gojowyczk.
Saturday marks a considerable step up in competition, even though the win over Kudla was a good one. Brooksby has defeated only one top 100 opponent in his career, and that was an injured Tomas Berdych at the 2018 U.S. Open. The 71st-ranked Thompson is in stellar form, having reached the Mallorca quarterfinals and the Wimbledon third round prior to arriving in Newport. His grass-court momentum has continued with defeats of Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Yuichi Sugita, and Maxime Cressy. Thompson has not even dropped a set this week; he might be tested in this one, but the Aussie has way more experience than Brooksby on this stage.
Pick: Thompson in 3
WWW?
Anderson in 3
Thompson in 3
Anderson in 2. Anderson is one of my most confident bets I made in a long time. Every factor possible points to an Anderson victory here. Bublik played 2 standard matches vs Karlovic and Jung, while Anderson been playing 3 great matches, and is far more serious and better on grass than Bublik.
Bookmakers got hammered in that one. There was a flood of money on Anderson the the final 20 mins before the match.
That match was a coin toss. 1 mistake at the wrong time determined the result.
If Bublik consolidated the break at 2:0 2nd set, he goes on to win 6:4 6:3. That’s how 1 point can change the course of the match.
Who is this Brooksby guy….and how good can he be?
Dunno, but he has a name that has definite possibilities…
I’m not so sure about that; when I put his name next to Djokovic it looks like 62 62 62 to me. Lol
He sounds like a movie star
Little article about him up on the ATP site today. Talks a good game. Time will tell. 🙂
Lot’s of serious talent that were best juniors in their countries and the world make it to that 100-150 ranking level but don’t make it much higher.
When he cracks the top 80-100 that’s when you can start to get excited.
It’ certainly very promising that he’s making it to the final of an ATP20=50 given his age and ranking, though.