A blockbuster final in Halle will pit Roger Federer against Alexander Zverev on Sunday afternoon. At Queen’s Club, meanwhile, the winner’s trophy is coming down to a showdown between Marin Cilic and Feliciano Lopez.
Halle: (1) Roger Federer vs. (4) Alexander Zverev
Federer will contest his 11th Gerry Weber Open final and will be seeking his ninth title at this event when he takes the court for Sunday’s enticing final against Zverev. The 35-year-old Swiss is 55-6 lifetime in Halle, where he first triumphed in 2003 but had not reached the championship round since 2015 before beating Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-6(5) on Saturday. Federer, who preceded that result by taking care of Yuichi Sugita, Mischa Zverev, and Florian Mayer in straight sets, is also 23-2 this season.
This marks the third career meeting between Federer and Zverev, with the head-to-head series tied up at one win apiece. Federer got the job done 6-3, 7-5 last spring in Rome before Zverev scored a 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-3 upset in the semifinals of this same Halle tournament. The 20-year-old German is up to No. 12 in the world thanks in part to capturing the biggest title of his career in Rome just a few weeks ago. Maintaining his fine form despite a relative disadvantageous surface change to grass, Zverev advanced to the final by defeating Paolo Lorenzi, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Richard Gasquet. The fourth seed is playing well, but Federer is 100 percent, well-rested, and should be able to exact revenge for last year’s setback.
Pick: Federer in 2
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Queen’s Club: (4) Marin Cilic vs. Feliciano Lopez
Cilic and Lopez will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers and for the second time this month when they meet again on Sunday in the final of the AEGON Championships. The head-to-head series stands at 5-2 in favor of Cilic, who just recently thrashed Lopez 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in round three of the French Open. With that the seventh-ranked Croat extended his winning streak against the Spaniard to four straight matches dating back to 2013. This stretch includes two Queen’s Club victories (4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in the 2013 second round and 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in last year’s opening round).
Cilic’s 2017 has been somewhat of a roller-coaster, with a whole host of bad losses but also a title on the red clay of Istanbul. So far at Queen’s Club, the 2012 champion has taken out John Isner, Stefan Kozlov, Donald Young, and ‘s-Hertogenbosch winner Gilles Muller, dropping only one set to Muller in the process. Lopez booked his spot in the final by beating No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka, Jeremy Chardy, Tomas Berdych, and Grigor Dimitrov. The 35-year-old’s lone straight-set success came at Chardy’s expense in round two. Grass is a good surface for both veterans and Lopez’s prowess on the green stuff may not be quite enough to overcome what is sure to be some fatigue in addition to his disastrous recent history against Cilic.
Pick: Cilic in 3
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who ya got?
Zverev in 2 and Cilic in 2
zverev in 2 lmao im dead
________ in 3.
And Cilic in 2. I believe that Cilic is a serious contender for the Wimbledon title. Even though Federer may not have been at his best last year, Cilic had that match in the bag, could have very well made the final, and put up a much better fight than Roanic did. I see him being focused and determined at Wimbledon this year, ready to make up for last year… I also could see him making a disappointing 4th round-ish exit like he almost always does! Who knows?! We shall see…
Semis is a reasonable goal for Cilic I would say.
Federer , Cilic in three.
Cilic a serious contender for Wimby? Yes, but so are a few others.
I would hope Joe so, Big Al! If Cilic is ever THE favorite at any major, then the Big 4 + Stan would be either retired or injured…
Don’t know how the word “Joe” slipped in there…
Nah, Kevin, Cilic can be one of the favorites without the big four + Stan retiring or getting injured. He has already won a slam, like Delpo. I’m sure if Delpo is fit and healthy, many still view him as one of the faves at the HC slams, so I don’t see why Cilic can’t be viewed as such like Delpo.
Zverev in 3, 36 76 75
Cilic in 2
Looks like a bunch of people on here are picking Zverev for tomorrow. I think it’s a good pick! I’m personally not willing to make that call, but I’m not willing to pick Fed either at this point…
Fed and Cilic in three
Zverev and Fed met 3 times actually.
The third time was in January this year at Hopman Cup – Zverev won in three tie-breakers.
Talking of which, I’m taking Federer to exact revenge on last year and add his win to a multiple, and playing over 23.5 games and over 2.5 sets, as I don’t think Zverev will go down without a proper fight.
After all, Khachanov ran Fed perilously close.
Cilic vs Lopez over 24.5 games and over 2.5 sets. Both have been too good this week, and both are hungry for this title.
Zverev is out of his depth.
Zverev looks like a rabbit caught in headlights.
Didn’t watch the match. Just saw the result! Looks like Zverev played bad but the scoreline is so lopsided! I am sure Federer played at a high level. Federer is so dangerous on grass!
VR, Fed played at a high level, his best match this Halle but Zverev was bad. Zverev wasn’t all guns blazing, lost his way through the match, when Fed gave him different looks all the time, changing pace with his slicing BH one moment followed by hard hitting BH the next.
Zverev had absolutely no idea what to expect next. I thought Zverev served poorly by his own standard, hardly won any point on his own serve; it was until he was about to lose, serving to stay in the match, that he finally served some big unreturnable serves to win the service game but it’s all too late.
I do feel Zverev should have come out serving big and hitting hard the way he did in his last service game of the match; too bad he couldn’t do that, giving Fed the head start breaking Zverev’s service game right away. Zverev won very few points in the first set. It’s a beat down by Fed no question about that,
This match reminded me of the beat down Rafa handed to Zverev at Monte Carlo this year, when Zverev only got two games! That match lasted only ten minutes longer than this final but that was clay court tennis! Poor Zverev really suffered under the hands of Fedal this season!
Perhaps, Gasquet may fare a little better (than Zverev) vs Fed in the final. I’ve to say I’m disappointed with the way Zverev played today.
Well Lucky, can we agree that Federer can play much better than he did earlier in the tournament? In fact, this was one of his best grass performances ever, comparable to how he played against Murray in 2015, though of course Zverev didnt’ play at Murray’s level. But as you say, a lot of that was that Roger didn’t let him.
73% 1st serves (93% won), 22 winners, only 8 UE. It doesn’t get much better than that. And I don’t think I have ever seen so many devastating drop shots on grass; in many ways it was death by drop shot by Federer.
Joe, when did I say Fed didn’t let him (Zverev)? I said Zverev let Fed did what he wanted, unlike Khachanov who didn’t allow Fed to do that!
I said it in one of my posts below, that I didn’t find Fed playing anything special, it’s not like he didn’t play this way before: it’s rather Zverev was playing poorly. I’m sure if it’s Khachanov in the final, Fed won’t be able to play this way, though he still would win.
Given how poor A Zverev fared vs Fedal, I’ve to say Djoko’s tennis has really gone down the drain, when he lost to Zverev so meekly in straight sets at a Masters final. I would expect that final to go the distance at least.
Missed most of that match, I was expecting more of a fight…
NextGen rubbish………
All they can hope for is to play spoiler, get a big scalp here and there and then fold like cheap suits. What a load of rubbish. Makes one appreciate more Fed, Rafa, Muzza and Nole. After all they have achieved, Fed and Rafa could have sat back last year and enjoyed their loot but no, they worked to re-jig their games to be competitive again. After being on the wrong end of the scoreline against Rafa and Fed Novak worked hard to better them and he did. The same with Muzza, he saw his opportunities and took them. I am willing to bet Nole and Muzza are busy problem-solving right now, to get back on top. I do not see this attitude with these youngsters. These young guns? They are so frustrating! They just have this pampered feel about them, like struggling is for tossers……………yuck!
Rant over………
Well done Fed! Can’t wait to see you and your band-mates Rafa, Muzza and Nole at Wimby, working your behinds off…….YESSSSSS!!
I did not watch, but the score line is very surprising after seeing Zverec previous last two matches.
He lost double bagels to Rafa earlier this year as well?
No not double bagels but double breadsticks.
Zverev having hard time beating RBA and Gasquet perhaps were signs of things to come, i.e. a beat down coming his way in the final.
At least the Cilic vs Feli match looks more competitive!
Seems like Federer is already penciled in for the W title ….
Not by me! I don’t give anyone the title befire they have earned it. You never know what can happen at a slam,
From the comments here I see that the final was disappointing. I hope to catch the replay. But I did think Fed would cone out playing better in the final. It’s unfortunate that Zverev did not go the same. He’s still learning and it appears that he got schooled by Fed.
I think Zverev is a work in progress. He just turned twenty, so he’s the baby of the next gen guys. He still has great potential but maybe was out of his element.
I don’t think Zverev is ready to go deep in a slam yet. I also don’t think the top four are ready to relinquish their dominance.
Fed will now go into Wimby as the favorite. But I still am not writIng off Murray. Also not writing off a dark horse making a run. Rafa id still a question mark. Novak is a big unknown right now.
Fed got what he needed out of Halle. But there are no sure things at slams.
Some nice points in this Cilic vs Feli match, at least it’s not a one sided or lopsided match. I have to say Cilic has faced two very good grass court players in Muller and Feli here at Queens. It’s certainly not an easy path for him having to beat Isner too.
Feli is also playing well to beat Berdych and then Dimi to get to the final.
Lucky, I actually think that Cilic has a really good shot at Wimbledon this year. What you think?
Kevin, depends on how mentally strong he can be. He looked agitated against Muller when he couldn’t find inroads into Muller’s service games.
Let’s see how he deals with Feli’s serves here. I do think if he passes the test here and wins the Queens title, he’ll be confident at Wimbledon.
Yeah, he will definitely go into Wimby confident if he wins Queens. Personally, I would love to see a Federer-Cilic rematch this year. Not only is Cilic playing well, but he also has beaten Fed on the way to a major title, so he may not be as phased as other non-Big4 players against Fed in a semi or final. However, Federer is also playing better than he did last year at Wimbledon and is healthier, so it may be harder for Cilic to go up 2 sets to 1 against him again. I know that Fed was pretty cooked after his QF epic with Monfils at 2014 US Open, but Cilic was still so deadly in that semifinal against Fed. We know Cilic is capable of steamrolling, it’s just a question of whether he can ever replicate that level of streaking again. Anyway, in my estimation since Kyrgios has been injured and struggling, the two non-Big4 guys who I think could realistically make a run at Wimbledon this year are Cilic and Zverev, although more so Cilic for sure. It’s a shame about Kyrgios because in the first part of the season, the general consensus seemed to be that he was going to be a legitimate title contender at Wimbledon this year. Maybe he will be fully healthy and ready to rock by the time Wimby starts? I’m skeptical at this point. Does anyone know anything about Kyrgios’ status right now?
Correction:
I meant to say that it could be harder for Cilic to go 2 sets to LOVE up on Fed this year, not 2 sets to 1…
After the Halle final, A Zverev is being strike off the list! Cilic? The way he’s returning serve? Atrocious! If he couldn’t read Feli’s serves, you think he could Fed’s?
The only thing that keeps him alive in this final is his big serve! I’m getting frustrated with the way he plays against Feli, I mean why is he hitting all the time to Feli’s BH, when that’s his stronger wing? Cilic has forgotten that Feli is a lefty, he couldn’t even adjust the way he play to deal with a lefty’s sliced BH the whole match! And, he was playing against another lefty yesterday, still hasn’t woken up to understand he has to adjust the way he plays.
I see that Cilic/Feli is on. At least this is a competitive final. Second set TB.