One all-seeded affair and one all-unseeded matchup are on the menu for semifinal Friday in Eastbourne. No. 3 Taylor Fritz is facing No. 6 Alex de Minaur, while British wild card Jack Draper tries to keep his run going at the expense of Maxime Cressy.
(3) Taylor Fritz vs. (6) Alex de Minaur
Fritz and De Minaur will be facing each other for the seventh time in their careers (sixth at the ATP level) and the second time this season when they battle for a spot in the final of the Rothesay International on Thursday. De Minaur leads the head-to-head series 4-2, but Fritz has won two in a row (7-6(4), 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 at the 2021 U.S. Open and 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) a few months ago in Indian Wells. Their only previous grass-court encounter came at the 2018 Surbiton Challenger, where De Minaur prevailed 6-4, 7-6(4).
Both players are in stellar form, each one exceeding the 20-win mark with room to spare. Fritz’s hot streak came this spring, highlighted by the Indian Wells title. The 14th-ranked American has cooled off since then, but he may be rounding back into form this week with victories over Thiago Monteiro and Alexander Bublik. De Minaur punched his ticket to the semis by beating Cristian Garin, Lorenzo Sonego, and Tommy Paul. The 24th-ranked Australian is 35-17 lifetime on grass and he has slight edge in current form, as well, so De Minaur should be able to advance.
Pick: De Minaur in 3
Maxime Cressy vs. (WC) Jack Draper
Fritz vs. De Minaur has the ingredients to be a semifinal on any surface, but you could pretty much guarantee that a Cressy-Draper semifinal would come on a grass court in Great Britain. Ranked 108th in the world, Draper needed a wild card to get into Eastbourne. The 20-year-old Brit has made the most of it with straight-set defeats of Jenson Brooksby, Diego Schwartzman, and Ryan Peniston.
Cressy’s serve-and-volley game works perfectly on the green stuff. The world No. 60 has ridden it to Eastbourne wins over Reilly Opelka, Dan Evans, and top-seeded Cam Norrie–also all in straight sets. Draper has not yet been tested this week and he doesn’t have nearly as much experience as Cressy, who finished runner-up at a Melbourne 250 and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open earlier this year. In what will almost certainly be a competitive contest, the American’s hug serve should help him handle the pressure-packed situations just a little bit better.
Pick: Cressy in 3
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