A semifinal spot will be at stake when Dominic Thiem goes up against David Ferrer on Friday in Cincinnati. On the other side of the draw, which is more wide open, John Isner is facing fellow American Jared Donaldson.
(3) Dominic Thiem vs. David Ferrer
Thiem and Ferrer will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they square off in the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open on Friday. Their only previous meeting came last season on the red clay of Rio de Janeiro, where Thiem cruised 6-3, 6-2. Ferrer had mostly been on the way down ever since, but the 35-year-old Spaniard is suddenly in resurgent form. After going 8-13 in his first 21 matches in 2017, he reached the third round at Wimbledon, won the Bastad title, and advanced two rounds in Montreal before losing to Roger Federer in three sets. So far in Cincinnati, Ferrer has defeated Steve Johnson, Janko Tipsarevic, and Pablo Carreno Busta.
Thiem’s season has taken a much different trajectory. While the overall body of work is much better than Ferrer’s, the eighth-ranked Austrian has begun to go downhill–which isn’t surprising given that the two clay-court swings are things of the past. Prior to this week, Thiem had won multiple matches at only one tournament since reaching the French Open semis (Wimbledon fourth round). But Cincinnati’s No. 3 seed appears to be back in business with straight-set victories Fabio Fognini and Adrian Mannarino. Thiem can struggle against players who take time away from him, but that is something Ferrer will be unable to do. Moreover, the veteran already has a pair of three-setters in his legs this week.
Pick: Thiem in 2
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(WC) Jared Donaldson vs. (14) John Isner
Isner will be running into a third consecutive up-and-coming American wild card when he battles Donaldson on Friday. The No. 14 seed faced Frances Tiafoe on Thursday night and prevailed 7-6(3), 7-5, a result that followed straight-set defeats of Viktor Troicki and Tommy Paul. This marks Isner’s third impressive event since the start of the U.S. summer swing, as he previously lifted trophies in Newport and Atlanta.
Donaldson is also in stellar form–the best of his career, in fact. The 20-year-old is up to 60th in the world and will climb to No. 51 even if he loses to Isner. Donaldson owns way more than half of his lifetime ATP-level match wins this season (17 of 28), including a whopping 11 in his last six tournaments alone. That includes Cincinnati, where he has taken out Roberto Bautista Agut, Ramkumar Ramanathan, and Nikoloz Basilashvili. Still, Isner is the obvious favorite in this one. The 31-year-old is a former runner-up in Cincinnati (2013), he is 1-0 in the head-to-head series against Donaldson (2015 Queen’s Club), and he has held all 32 of his service games this week.
Pick: Isner in 2
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