The Grand Slam season is over, but there is a lot more tennis in the cards for 2016 and the home stretch begins this weekend with the Davis Cup semifinals. It will start with a bang on Friday, when Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro collide in a rematch of the Rio Olympics gold-medal showdown to kick off the Great Britain vs. Argentina tie. On the other side of the bracket, Croatia is hosting France.
Argentina vs. Great Britain
Where: Glasgow, Scotland
Surface: Indoor hard
Argentina: Guido Pella, Juan Martin Del Potro, Leonardo Mayer, Federico Delbonis
Great Britain: Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund, Daniel Evans, Jamie Murray
Get your popcorn ready for Friday, because Murray vs. Del Potro is about as a big as a Davis Cup rubber can get. They may not be anywhere close to each other in terms of ranking (Murray is No. 2 to Del Potro’s 64th), but their recent Olympic battle resulted in a four-hour thriller and Del Potro parlayed his silver-medal magic into a quarterfinal run at the U.S. Open as a wild card. Murray’s quarterfinal performance in New York ended with a much different feeling, as the second seed and arguable title favorite was upset by Kei Nishikori in five sets.
The British side has been dubbed as a one-man show at times in the past, but Murray should get plenty of help this time around. Both Kyle Edmund (nominated as the second singles player for this semifinal) and Daniel Evans are coming off impressive showings in Flushing Meadows (Edmund: fourth round, Evans: third round), and Evans even had a match point against eventual champion Stan Wawrinka. Jamie Murray, the older of the two brothers, is the No. 4 doubles player in the world and his recent U.S. Open title (with Bruno Soares) marked his second major triumph of the year. With Edmund playing well and the Murray brothers a force in doubles, the defending Davis Cup champions should be able to blank Argentina if Del Potro cannot pull off an upset in the opening rubber.
Prediction: Great Britain 3, Argentina 0 (last two rubbers dead)
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France vs. Croatia
Where: Zadar, Croatia
Surface: Indoor hard
France: Richard Gasquet, Lucas Pouille, Nicolas Mahut, Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Croatia: Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, Ivan Dodig, Marin Draganja
Croatia is basically on its second life in the Davis Cup World Group after staging an improbable comeback to stun the United States in the quarterfinals. Team USA had home-court advantage, a 2-0 lead following the first day of action, and the Bryan brothers scheduled for Saturday doubles. But Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig took down the Bryans before Cilic and Borna Coric got the job done in singles one day later to cap off the come-from-behind win. The same crew is back for the semis, although a Cilic-Dodig doubles pairing may be unnecessary given that the Croats should not be in another 2-0 hole when they face France. In fact, the host nation may be leading 2-0 after Friday singles. Cilic is an obvious favorite against Davis Cup rookie Lucas Pouille, and just about anything could happen in Coric vs. Richard Gasquet given that both have been dealing with physical problems.
It would behoove Croatia to seize a 2-0 advantage heading into Saturday because the Frenchmen will put Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert on the table in doubles. Mahut and Herbert may not have won the U.S. Open, but they have been the most consistent team from start to finish in 2016 and are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 individually in doubles. If Gasquet is truly recovered from a recent back injury and can win at least one of his two singles matches, the stage could be set for an intriguing fifth rubber between up-and-coming youngsters Coric and Pouille.
Prediction: Croatia 3, France 1 (last rubber dead)
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Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!
3-0 GB and 3-1 Croatia but the first one could be a lot different if Del Po pulls off the upset. I don’t see Gasquet winning a match in Croatia though.