Dubai SF previews and predictions: Pouille vs. Krajinovic, Bautista Agut vs. Jaziri

Malek Jaziri has crashed what is otherwise an all-seed party in the Dubai semifinals. Jaziri is hoping to continue the best tournament of his career at the expense of Roberto Bautista Agut, while Friday’s other semifinal features Lucas Pouille and Filip Krajinovic.

(7) Filip Krajinovic vs. (2) Lucas Pouille

Pouille and Krajinovic will be squaring for the second time in their careers at the ATP level and for the second time in as many weeks when they meet again in the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday. They just faced each other on the indoor hard courts of Marseille, where Pouille treated the French crowd to a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 quarterfinal victory. The world No. 15 eventually finished runner-up to Karen Khachanov, a loss he avenged in the Dubai second round with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win. Pouille preceded that result with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Ernests Gulbis and followed it up by overcoming Yuichi Sugita 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday.

Krajinovic missed the Australian Open due to injury, but the Paris Masters runner-up is rounding back into form. He played Pouille tough in Marseille and did the same against Grigor Dimitrov in Rotterdam, picking up victories over Felix Auger-Aliassime, Joao Sousa, and Gilles Simon along the way. Krajinovic, who will crack the top 30 for the first time in his career next week, has advanced in Dubai with wins over Thomas Fabbiano, Marcos Baghdatis, and Evgeny Donskoy. He has not dropped a set since getting bageled by Fabbiano to begin the event in inauspicious fashion. The world No. 34 is definitely the more rested of these two competitors and Pouille does not have home-court advantage this time around.

Pick: Krajnovic in 3

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(WC) Malek Jaziri vs. (3) Roberto Bautista Agut

Nine years after their first encounter, Bautista Agut and Jaziri will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers. Needless to say, this one comes on a much different stage than the previous tilt (at a 2009 Futures event in Spain, where Bautista Agut prevailed in three sets). In fact, this is without question the biggest match of Jaziri’s career and it marks his first-ever appearance in the semifinals of a 500-point tournament. From just about out of nowhere, the 117th-ranked Tunisian has made a run to the last four thanks to victories over top-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, Robin Haase, and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Bautista Agut is back in business following early setbacks at the Australian Open and in Marseille plus an awful Davis Cup loss at home in Spain to Cameron Norrie. The world No. 23 earned his spot in the Dubai semis by defeating Florian Mayer, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Borna Coric, surrendering just one set to Herbert in the process. Aiming for his second final and second title of the season, Bautista Agut is the fresher player and certainly the more experienced at this stage of ATP tournaments.

Pick: Bautista Agut in 2

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