The first grass-court titles of the summer will be determined on Sunday. Jack Draper meets Matteo Berrettini in Stuttgart, while an all-seeded showdown in ‘s-Hertogenbosch pits Alex de Minaur against Sebastian Korda.
BOSS Open: (6) Jack Draper vs. (PR) Matteo Berrettini
Berrettini will be bidding for his third Stuttgart title when he faces Draper for the first time on Sunday. The 95th-ranked Italian lifted this trophy in both 2019 and 2022; now he is back in the final following victories over Roman Safiullin, Denis Shapovalov, James Duckworth, and Lorenzo Musetti. Only Safiullin has managed to take a set off Berrettini and nobody else has even forced a tiebreaker.
Draper may be in the early stages of his career but he is already a force on grass, too. The 40th-ranked Brit has put himself in position to be seeded at Wimbledon, as he will climb to No. 32 in the world even if he loses this match. Draper secured his spot in Sunday’s final by beating Sebastian Ofner, Marcos Giron, Frances Tiafoe (in a third-set tiebreaker), and Brandon Nakashima. This should be a grass-court contest of the highest quality. An edge goes to Berrettini due to his overpowering serve on grass and his experience (eight ATP titles compared to Draper’s zero).
Pick: Berrettini in 3
Libema Open: (1) Alex de Minaur vs. (7) Sebastian Korda
De Minaur and Korda will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers when they battle for the ‘s-Hertogenbosch title. The head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in De Minaur’s favor, but Korda won their only previous grass-court matchup 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) in the 2021 Wimbledon first round. They most recently met earlier this year on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam, where De Minaur got the job done 6-4, 6-3.
De Minaur went on to triumph in Rotterdam, highlighting what has been an awesome season. The ninth-ranked Australian also won the Acapulco title and he is coming off a quarterfinal run at Roland Garros. So far in ‘s-Hertogenbosch he has ousted Zizou Bergs, Milos Raonic, and Ugo Humbert in straight sets. Korda has advanced with wins over Tristan Schoolkate, Luca Nardi, Tommy Paul, and defending champion Tallon Griekspoor–all in straight sets, as well. Given how well both guys are playing, Sunday’s showdown promises to be high quality and competitive. Grass will help Korda shorten points–which he needs to do in this matchup–but De Minaur had his number in their last two encounters and the top seed’s defense will likely be too tough once again.
Pick: De Minaur in 3
WWW?
Korda in 3
Draper in 3
Are you questioning me?
So good to see Jack uninjured and playing well.
Come on, Jack! He’s almost there, one more…
Yay, he made it! Congrats Jack!
ATP bracket winners, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Congratulations, go to welshwitch and geegee in a tie!
ATP Stuttgart Congrats to geegee! And who is geegee? 😀
WTA ‘s-Hertogenbosch top spot goes to Cami. Congratulations Cami. Cami picked Liudmila Samsonova, who edged out an exhausted Bianca Andreescu in the decider.
The Final in Nottingham is in progress, Boulter vs Pliskova.
Since I am in a hurry, I need to finish picking my brackets for the coming week. But, I can safely call the winner no matter which WTA player wins,
Congratulations go to geegee!
Please come back this coming week, if you can, and I mean everybody, win or lose! Even if your opinion of me personally is low. Jalep_Wildguess TDC bracket Group. Have a great week!
I am wrong again. After the WTA Final in Nottingham, Big Al made it up to tie with Geegee.
Congrats to Big Al and geegee!
Excellent grass court Wins, Katie Boulter, and Liudmila Samsonova!
Congrats Trophy Winner Alex De Minaur on his win in ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Congrats again to Jack Draper on his first ATP title on grass in Stuttgart. Nice Motobike, too.
Back to bad WTA bracket puzzles. I finished the ATP brackets and feel good about them 😀
All Anonymous players are welcome. Well, that would be confusing; pick a nickname and join. It’s a public bracket; no one needs to know your identity.
(however, if you are a regular, I might guess who you are. It’s simply a Wild_Guess)