Gael Monfils and Andrey Rublev are set for a surprising Doha final on Saturday after taking much different paths through the semis. In Pune, meanwhile, 2017 U.S. Open runner-up is going up against unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Doha: (WC) Gael Monfils vs. Andrey Rublev
The Qatar ExxonMobil Open is one of the few 250-point tournaments on tour that make a habit of featuring the very top players of the sport in their title matches, but it will be an all-unseeded affair when Monfils and Rublev collide for the first time in their careers on Saturday. Monfils, who had not played since last summer’s U.S. Open due to injury, has benefited from a favorable draw in which the two seeds in his quarter–Tomas Berdych and Filip Krajinovic–lost in the opening round. The 46th-ranked Frenchman beat Paolo Lorenzi, Jan-Lennard Struff, and Peter Gojowycz before getting a semifinal walkover from an ill Dominic Thiem.
Rublev, a 2017 U.S. Open quarterfinalist, has clinched Australian Open seeding at just 20 years old thanks to his run to the Doha final. The 39th-ranked Russian has advanced with victories over Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (via retirement), Fernando Verdasco (three sets), Borna Coric (6-3, 7-5), and Guido Pella (in a third-set tiebreaker). Although the semifinal against Pella lasted two hours and 25 minutes, Rublev should gain confidence amidst the fatigue based on the way he saved a match point with an ace and survived an extremely high-quality thriller. The youngster won his only previous ATP final last season in Umag, whereas Monfils is a shockingly bad 6-20 lifetime in finals.
Pick: Rublev in 3
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Pune: Gilles Simon vs. (2) Kevin Anderson
Anderson and Simon will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers when they battle for the Tata Open title on Saturday. All three of their previous meetings have gone Anderson’s way; 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 at the 2013 Indian Wells Masters, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 two years later on the grass courts of Queen’s Club, and 6-2, 7-6(8) this past fall in Tokyo.
Although a fourth showdown seemed unlikely when they landed on opposite sides of the Pune draw, Simon has made an especially surprising run to the final. The Frenchman plunged to No. 89 in the world last season but has stormed out of the 2018 gates like gangbusters with victories this week over Tennys Sandgren, defending champion Roberto Bautista Agut, Ricardo Ojeda Lara, and No. 1 seed Marin Cilic, dropping just one set to Cilic along the way. Anderson, the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up and recent winner of the six-man Abu Dhabi event, has advanced by beating Thiago Monteiro, Mikhail Kukushkin, and Benoit Paire. The second-seeded South African is extremely confident right now and his power game has always been just a little bit too much for Simon’s defense.
Pick: Anderson in 3
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