One of the two unsurprising finals on Sunday pits Milos Raonic against Tommy Haas in San Jose. In Rotterdam, however, unexpected finalist Julien Benneteau makes another bid for his first title against Juan Martin Del Potro.
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament: Julien Benneteau vs. (2) Juan Martin Del Potro
Ricky: Combined, Del Potro and Benneteau are an even 13-13 lifetime in ATP title matches. So Benneteau must be pretty decent when he makes it to the final hurdles, right? Wrong, of course. The 31-year-old Frenchman is a well-documented 0-8 for his career in ATP finals, including at least one in each of the previous seasons–two last year. Del Potro, on the other hand, boasts a 13-5 record in title matches. The seventh-ranked Argentine triumphed last season in Marseille, Estoril, Vienna, and Basel and one of his rare runner-up finishes came at this same Rotterdam event to Roger Federer.
Benneteau has been in great form from the start in his 2013 campaign. The world No. 39 sports a 10-4 record following wins this week over Tobias Kamke, Victor Hanescu, Federer, and Gilles Simon. Benneteau, who has not dropped a set in Rotterdam, will surpass his career-high ranking of 26th if he can pull off the upset on Sunday. Del Potro started slow this year at the Australian Open, but he has heated up with straight-set victories over Gael Monfils, Ernests Gulbis, Jarkko Nieminen, and Grigor Dimitrov. Six of Del Potro’s finals have come on indoor hard courts and he has won three titles on this surface. That kind of experience gives the second seed an obvious edge, but Benneteau is too good to endure more heatbreak without putting up an impressive fight. Del Potro 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Steen (Tennis East Coast): Benneteau is rolling, having shocked Federer again and handling Simon in the semis while not dropping a set the whole event. Still, he will be an underdog against Del Potro, who also hasn’t dropped a set this week and is striking the ball quite well. The Argentine is back in the same place he was last year, the final, but against a different opponent whom he has never played before. I’ll go with Del Potro to take the title in straights. Del Potro 6-4, 7-6.
SAP Open: (1) Milos Raonic vs. (4) Tommy Haas
Ricky: It only seems fair that in the last year of the SAP Open Raonic takes the title. Not only has he won the last two previous installments of the event, but he is 11-0 lifetime in San Jose, 22-0 in sets, and 9-0 in tiebreakers. The 13th-ranked Canadian has remained dominant this week with routine victories over Michael Russell, Denis Istomin, and Sam Querrey.
As well as Haas is playing (similarly convincing wins over Jesse Levine, Steve Johnson, and John Isner), he still does not have the edge in current form. The German’s lone advantage, of course, is experience. He is 13-11 lifetime in 25 career ATP finals. Still, the bottom line is you simply don’t mess with Milos Raonic in San Jose. Raonic 7-6, 7-6.
Steen: After an iffy season early on for Haas, he seems to have kicked it up a notch and returned to the same stellar level of play he had last year, winning all three of his matches quite easily–including over Isner, against whom he avoided any tiebreaks. In a draw full of big servers, Haas has navigated it as a ball-striker.
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