Lorenzo Musetti has taken out the top seed and will try to keep his Cagliari run going at the expense of Laslo Djere on Friday. Jan-Lennard Struff and Nikoloz Basilashvili are also a part of the quarterfinal schedule.
Lorenzo Musetti vs. Laslo Djere
Musetti’s first two matches at the Sardegna Open could not have been more different. After destroying Dennis Novak 6-0, 6-1 in the first round, the 19-year-old Italian saved four match points to beat No. 1 seed Dan Evans 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(8) on Thursday. Musetti has already doubled his lifetime tour-level won count in 2021, taking it from five to 12.
Up next for the world No. 90 on Friday in Cagliari is Djere, another formidable clay-courter. The 57th-ranked Croat is a decent 7-7 this season and this is already his third quarterfinal performance on clay (previously reached that stage in Buenos Aires and Santiago). So far this week he has ousted Federico Gaio and John Millman in straight sets. Still, Djere is not in the same form that carried him to the 2019 Rio de Janeiro title and Musetti should have a slight edge in what will likely be a high-quality clay-court contest.
Pick: Musetti in 3
(4) Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. (5) Jan-Lennard Struff
Struff and Basilashvili will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers at the ATP level on Friday. After losing their first encounter in three sets at the 2019 Rogers Cup, Struff completely dominated a pair of 202 meetings; 6-1, 6-0 in Dubai and 6-4, 6-2 to wrap up the season at the Paris Masters. This one should be more competitive, as Basilashvili is finally starting to win some matches again. In fact, he made a surprising run to the Doha title last month. Since then, though, the 37th-ranked German has lost opening matches in Dubai and Miami. He almost suffered the same fate in Cagliari but managed to save multiple match points and outlast Jozef Kovalik 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday.
Despite Basilashvili’s long-overdue uptick in form, he remains wildly inconsistent. Struff is without question a clear favorite, in part because he already has two victories under his belt this week–the second of which was a commanding 6-4, 6-2 win over Liam Broady. Count on Struff scoring another straight-set defeat of Basilashvili.
Pick: Struff in 2
Oh dear, so hard to predict
Musetti in 3; Struff in 2.