Can anyone stop Novak Djokovic in Astana this week? The task now falls on Karen Khachanov, who will go up against the 21-time Grand Slam champion during quarterfinal action on Friday. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev faces Roberto Bautista Agut.
Karen Khachanov vs. (4) Daniil Medvedev
Djokovic and Khachanov will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers when they battle for a semifinal spot at the Astana Open on Friday. The head-to-head series stands at 6-1 in favor of Djokovic, who has won five consecutive meetings and is 11-1 in total sets during this stretch since losing to Khachanov in the 2018 Paris Masters title match.
Although Djokovic has missed two Grand Slams this season and was 15th in the 2022 race going into this week, he has already locked up a place in Turin thanks to his Wimbledon title. The seventh-ranked Serb still looks motivated, as he lifted the Tel Aviv trophy last week and so far in Astana has destroyed Cristian Garin and Botic van de Zandschulp. Khachanov has advanced with hard-fought victories over Maxime Cressy and Marin Cilic. The world No. 18 is in decent enough form, but given Djokovic’s level of play the lopsidedness of this matchup will likely continue.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 losing 7 games or fewer
Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (2) Daniil Medvedev
The Medvedev vs. Bautista Agut series history is far more surprising. They have faced each other on five occasions and Bautista Agut has won four times–most recently via a 6-3, 6-2 decision on the grass courts of Mallorca. However, Medvedev won their grass-court encounter that came right before the aforementioned result by beating the Spaniard 6-2, 6-4 in Halle. Bautista Agut has won all three of their hard-court contests, but they have never squared off indoors.
In part because he hasn’t been winning as much as usual, Medvedvev is well-rested heading into the stretch run of 2022 and he has been ruthless so far this week. The world No. 4 dropped nine total games in his first two matches against Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Emil Ruusuvuori. Bautista Agut booked his spot in the quarters by taking out Felix Auger-Aliassime and lucky loser Pavel Kotov. This should be another fun one between two guys with relatively similar styles, but Medvedev looks motivated–and definitely will be in this particular matchup that hasn’t gone his way–and his ability to win free points on serve may be the difference indoors.
Pick: Medvedev in 3
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