Finals previews and picks: Ferrer vs. Johnson, Cilic vs. Bautista Agut

The Vienna title is coming down to David Ferrer and Steve Johnson on Sunday. In Moscow, the two men left standing are top two seeds Marin Cilic and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Erste Bank Open: (1) David Ferrer vs. Steve Johnson

Johnson will be competing in his first career ATP final when he takes the court against Ferrer on Sunday in Valencia. Less importantly, the American is also potentially playing for 2016 Australian Open seeding. He will climb to at least No. 33 in the world and will surge into the top 30 if he upsets Ferrer. Johnson owns more than half of his ATP-level match victories in 2015 (33 of 59) and so far this week he has taken out Alexandr Dolgopolov, Jerzy Janowicz, Kevin Anderson, and Ernests Gulbis.

Ferrer, on the other hand, is through to his 51st career ATP title match and currently owns a 25-25 record. The eighth-ranked Spaniard recently triumphed in Kuala Lumpur and he is on the brink of lifting another winner’s trophy following Vienna defeats of Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Fabio Fognini, and Gael Monfils. An in-form Ferrer has won eight consecutive sets since dropping his opener to Ramos-Vinolas. All factors–not the least of which is experience–point to a convincing win for the No. 1 seed.

Pick: Ferrer in 2 with no tiebreakers

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Kremlin Cup: (1) Marin Cilic vs. (2) Roberto Bautista Agut

This will be the second consecutive Moscow final between Cilic and Bautista Agut. Last year’s championship match, which remains their only previous encounter to date, was dominated by Cilic 6-4, 6-4. Speaking of domination, the top-seeded Croat bounced back from a three-setter against Denis Istomin in this week’s opener to crush Andrey Kuznetsov 6-2, 6-1 and Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-1. Despite not winning a match until April because of a shoulder injury, Cilic is 32-17 for the year and registers at 14th in the world.

Bautista Agut has cooled off slightly on the heels of a breakout 2014 campaign. Still, the Spaniard is a decent 27th in the rankings and will be seeded Down Under in January. He has dug out of a brief slump with consecutive stellar performances in Russia. Bautista Agut reached the St. Petersburg semis and so far in Moscow has disposed of Marsel Ilhan, Lucas Pouille, and Philipp Kohlschreiber all in straight sets. On this surface, a confident Cilic should once again blast Bautista Agut off the court while rolling to his 14th career ATP title.

Pick: Cilic in 2

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