It will be No. 1 vs. No. 2 in Cologne when Alexander Zverev and Diego Schwartzman battle for the title on Sunday. In Antwerp, meanwhile, Alex de Minaur is going up against unseeded Ugo Humbert.
bett1HULKS Championship: (1) Alexander Zverev vs. (2) Diego Schwartzman
Zverev will be bidding for a second Cologne title in as many weeks when he faces Schwartzman in the final on Sunday night. The seventh-ranked German lifted the trophy last weekend inside the same venue and so far this week he has defeated John Millman, Adrian Mannarino, and Jannik Sinner–losing sets to Millman and Mannarino in the process.
Schwartzman leads the head-to-head series 2-1 following a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory at the 2019 U.S. Open. The red-hot Argentine recently reached the Rome final and the French Open semis, putting himself in position for a debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. Schwartzman has continued his winning ways with Cologne victories over Oscar Otte, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Both players could be a bit fatigued, which would probably favor Schwartzman because the surface is not playing especially fast and he will once again put tons of balls in play. Plus, Zverev’s double-faulting issues do not appear to be going away.
Pick: Schwartzman in 2
European Open: (8) Alex de Minaur vs. Ugo Humbert
De Minaur and Humbert will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Sunday afternoon in Antwerp. For a long time it looked Dan Evans would be part of the championship festivities, but Humbert saved four match points in their semifinal showdown–including three in a row from 6-3 down in the second-set tiebreaker–before prevailing 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4. For the 38th-ranked Frenchman, that three-hour and 12-minute thriller was preceded by wins at the expense of Kimmer Coppejans, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Lloyd Harris.
Whereas Humbert almost bowed out on Saturday, de Minaur came close to being one and done. Richard Gasquet served for the match in the second set in the opening round only to see the 29th-ranked Aussie storm back to survive 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. De Minaur has since ousted Feliciano Lopez, Marcos Giron, and Grigor Dimitrov. The 21-year-old is 3-3 lifetime in ATP finals, including 3-1 in his last four (all of those four coming in 2019). Humbert is 1-0, having triumphed for the first time earlier this season in Auckland. With Minaur’s experience and Humbert’s probable fatigue, the edge goest to Antwerp’s eighth seed.
Pick: de Minaur in 2
WWW?
Schwartz in 3; Humbert in 3.
Schwartzman looks good and if he plays as he did in the semi-final, he will win. Humbert is a good matchup for Dimon.
Zverev in 3
Humbert in 3
Again, I was probably influenced a bit when predicting both of these matches would go 3 sets. I can now see why they were both convincing straight sets victories.
You need foresight as good as hindsight in this game and you have to trust your own judgement.
I at least picked Humbert to reach the final.Having got through a couple close matches getting there,he was then the favourite esp.since Raonic pulled out.
I didnt pick Zverev to win Cologne simply because he won last week and its unheard of to have back to back tournaments at same venue.Instead I went for Shapo d Schwartzman in the final.
Yeah you need to be a bit of a time traveller and have fo=resight as good as your hindsight…