The top seeds are intact in Hamburg, as Dominic Thiem takes the court against Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev faces Filip Krajinovic during quarterfinal action on Friday.
(1) Dominic Thiem vs. Andrey Rublev
This will be the third career meeting between top seed Dominic Thiem and Russia’s Andrey Rublev. Thiem won both encounters, but Rublev got pretty close to an upset in Monte Carlo last year, taking the Austrian to three tight sets. His first round WImbledon exit notwithstanding, Thiem has evolved into a great all-around tennis player. But clay will always be his best surface. Thiem is the 2019 French Open runner-up, and he holds titles at Indian Wells and Barcelona.
Rublev wasn’t able to play the French Open, as he has struggled with a wrist injury. He made his way back on tour for the grass season, but until this week, he has only managed to win a single match at each tournament he’s played. A quarterfinal showing is a good result for Rublev, but as he’s run into the second-best clay-courter in the world right now, his tournament is likely to end here.
Cheryl pick: Thiem in 2
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(2) Alexander Zverev vs. Filip Krajinovic
World No. 5 Alexander Zverev seems to have put aside his own opening round Wimbledon exit. The German has played well in front of the home crowd, skating through the first two rounds against accomplished clay courters Nicolas Jarry and Federico Delbonis. Zverev will once again have the edge on Friday, as he takes on Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic.
Krajinovic had a tricky second-round match against Martin Klizan, in which he lost the first set in the tiebreak before just squeezing out a 7-5 second set to level the match. Klizan eventually fell away in the third set, and Krajinovic snagged a 6-1 decider. Krajinovic has had some good results this year, but with his ranking outside the top 100 as recently as April, he has found himself spending half his time on the Challenger circuit. The effort paid off. He sits at No. 58 now and although Zverev is the heavy favorite, an upset wouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Cheryl pick: Zverev in 3
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What happened to Thiem? After his four sets loss to Rafa at the FO final, he’s not playing well – loss in R1 Wimbledon, about to lose to Rublev in straight sets in the QF at Hamburg. I mean Rublev, who hasn’t done much after his injury?
Is Thiem suffering from any injury after that FO final? Both Fed and Djoko needed time to recover from their long Wimbledon final; Thiem had a long five setter against Djoko in the FO SF followed by that intense final against Rafa. I won’t be surprised that he’s suffering now.
Thiem lost to Sam Querry in Wimbly R1, didn’t he? Not exactly a shocking result since Sam can do well at Wimbledon and Thiem isn’t a great grass courter.
I saw today’s match v Rublev, who was playing well for a change. Thiem did not appear to have an injury problem. He was perhaps a little flat.
I guess all these tense five setters really took a lot out of the players. Rafa after his two tense five setters last year at Wimbledon, had it tough at the USO that followed, leading to his knee injury and retirement from the SF match.
I think Fed, Djoko and Thiem are suffering from the effects of those long gruelling matches. I’m happy Rafa still looks ok after Wimbledon, hope he defends his Canadian Masters title successfully, and then goes to the USO in tip top conditions.
From your keyboard to God’s ear.
In my opinion Djoker is no longer interested in Masters’ events. He just wants to win slams and barring serious injury he will pass 20 at some point. Cincy is just a tune up for him. As for Fed, no way will he play Rogers Cup again. Think he learned his lesson in 2017. Unless Rafa loses early in Canada I doubt he’ll play Cincy. I expect at least some of the young guns to mount serious challenges in Rogers and Cincy though.
Isn’t that true not only for Djoko but also for Rafa and Fed? I doubt Rafa is too eager to play at the masters unless they’re tune ups for the slams, hence Rafa will skip Cincy if he does well at Canada. Fed has skipped Canada often and plays only Cincy as a warm up for the USO.
I think Rafa would still love to play a full schedule but his knees just won’t allow him to on hardcourt.
Thiem in 3: Zv in 2
If Zverev can win the tournament, that would be huge for him going forward. He would’ve lost that match to Krajinovic a few months ago.
I Think theres another player other than Djoker that has his eyes set on Federers 20, err hello Rafa has 18 GS , 18 is much closer to 20 than 16 is, well it was the last time i counted !
Looks like another come from behind win for AZ; this Basilash guy looks rather one dimensional to me, only hitting hard CC most of the times, hardly any DTL shots, so predictable.
AZ has turned into a comeback kid this Hamburg event, snatching victories from the jaws of defeats, time and again. Its like the other players are just supporting casts, he’s the main lead, on home ground. It’s no wonder he said that ‘this is my… home’, after beating Krajinovic.
Spoke too soon 😂 Basilashvili was the comeback kid in the end. Down 3-5 in the breaker and won the last four points. Basilashvili hits the ball so big and clean, and he loves playing here. That’s now nine matches in a row at Hamburg. I’d be shocked if he didn’t make it ten tomorrow.
So the comeback kid fails this time but what a match! Only two points separates the two, but the match is full of errors from both. Basil almost loses this one, lucky for him to survive as the defending champion.
AZ did fight hard so good for him, showing signs of getting back on track despite losing this very close match. He has to pick up his game fast, if not he may fall out of top ten by year end. Agut looks a likely top ten candidate should AZ drops out.
Wow I didn’t realize this as I just woke up to literally see the last four points of the match, but Basilashvili was actually down 2-5 in the breaker AND 3-5 in the set AND saved two match points in the process. And all in 3 hours and 8 minutes.
Terrible match. Neither player had any energy but Bashi woke up now and then. Tons of double faults. Didn’t seem to be especially hot there, no one sweating and neither guy had particularly long matches before today.
Rublev vs PCB was a pretty good match. Mostly I was surprised how well Ruby Was playing – good enough to frustrate PCB by the third set :D. The almost forgotten Russian is sort of back, maybe. He was supposed to keep up with Khachanov, I had hoped. We’ll see how he makes out vs Basilashvili in the final; if I can get up early enough.
I hope Rublev wins
Amazing from Demon, and well done RC for picking him to go far.
Opelka v Demon matchup reminds me of Hewitt v Karlovic.