Saturday finals will be taking place in Dubai and Acapulco, where a quartet have seeds have survived a couple of relatively up-for-grabs tournaments. Lucas Pouille and Roberto Bautista Agut are battling for the Dubai title, while the Acapulco festivities feature Juan Martin Del Potro and Kevin Anderson.
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: (3) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (2) Lucas Pouille
Pouille and Bautista Agut will be facing each other for the fourth time in their careers when they collide in the Dubai final on Saturday night. Bautista Agut is leading the head-to-head series 2-1, with a pair of straight-set wins in 2015 (St. Petersburg and Moscow) before Pouille prevailed 3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 at the 2016 U.S. Open. The latter result led to Pouille’s five-set upset of Rafael Nadal two days later, but it is safe to say that the Frenchman is no longer any kind of one-match wonder. Fast forward less than two full seasons and Pouille is the proud owner of five ATP titles and a Davis Cup championship in which he played the clinching role last fall. The world No. 15 is especially on fire at the moment, with two final appearances in February–a title in Montpellier and a runner-up performance in Marseille.
Bautista Agut has also been a titles and finals machine, having lifted seven winners’ trophies in his career to go along with six runner-up finishes. The 23rd-ranked Spaniard triumphed earlier this year in Auckland and he is back in a title match following Dubai defeats of Florian Mayer, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Borna Coric, and Malek Jaziri. Pouille, meanwhile, has advanced by taking out Ernests Gulbis, Karen Khachanov, Yuichi Sugita, and Filip Krajinovic–the latter in a third-set tiebreaker. This is a considerable step up in competition for Bautista Agut, who can pull off the occasional upset but has generally made a living off feasting on lower-ranked opponents.
Pick: Pouille in 3
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Abierto Mexicano Telcel: (5) Kevin Anderson vs. (6) Juan Martin Del Potro
Anderson and Del Potro will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers when they battle for the Acapulco title on Saturday night. Del Potro is utterly dominating the head-to-head series 6-0, including 12-0 in total sets. They have clashed only once since 2013, with Del Potro getting the job done 6-4, 6-4 two years ago in the Delray Beach first round.
With both veterans finally healthy again at the same time, there are no more first-round matchups in the cards. Anderson was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2017 and he now registers at a career-high ranking of No. 8 in the world. The 6’8” South African just captured a title on the indoor hard courts of New York and he finds himself in another final following Acapulco victories over Radu Albot, Adrian Mannarino, Hyeon Chung, and Jared Donaldson. Only one spot lower at ninth in the rankings, Del Potro has advanced by beating Mischa Zverev, David Ferrer, Dominic Thiem, and Alexander Zverev–dropping just one set to Ferrer along the way. The 29-year-old Argentine has unquestionably been the best player the whole way this week and he crucially conserved energy by getting past both Thiem and Zverev in straights.
Pick: Del Potro in 3
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WYG?
(wrong thread)
Delpo in 2 tight sets, maybe three. Delpo will get a lot of confidence if he wins the title
Del Po and Pouille in three
As much as I love Delpo, I think it’s going to be Anderson and Pouille with the titles. Their H2H is inconsequential given Anderson is a changed player
Delpo in three ,but almost 50:50.
Could be a geographical advantage to Delpo.