Casper Ruud and Cristian Garin are unseeded in Hamburg, but their presences in the final four are hardly surprising. Ruud will try to keep his run going against Andrey Rublev on Saturday, while Garin faces Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Casper Ruud vs. (5) Andrey Rublev
Rublev and Ruud will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time at the Hamburg European Open when they meet again during semifinal action on Saturday. Their only previous meeting came in round two last year, when Rublev prevailed 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 on his way to a runner-up finish.
Both players have been outstanding in 2020. Rublev is up to 14th in the world and has improved to 23-6 this season with Hamburg wins over Tennys Sandgren, Tommy Paul, and Roberto Bautista Agut. Ruud secured a seed at the French Open by climbing to 30th in the rankings thanks in part to last week’s semifinal run in Rome. The 21-year-old Norwegian has maintained his fine form with defeats of Benoit Paire, Fabio Fognini, and Casper Ruud while dropping just one set to Humbert in the process. Ruud is bidding for his fourth ATP final appearances and the previous three have all come on clay. On this surface, he can play many meters behind the baseline and withstand Rublev’s powerful forehand.
Pick: Ruud in 3
Cristian Garin vs. (2) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Like Ruud, Garin is the essence of a clay-court specialist. The 22nd-ranked Chilean is 13-2 on the slow stuff in 2020 (13-1 not including a retirement) compared to 2-7 on hard courts. He triumphed in Cordoba and Rio de Janeiro and is now two wins away from another title following victories over Kei Nishikori, Yannik Hanfmann, and Alexander Bublik.
The competition level now ratchets up dramatically from a lucky loser (Bublik) to the No. 2 seed (Tsitsipas). Bublik played well in an entertaining three-setter on Friday, but he certainly isn’t Tsitsipas–especially not on clay. The sixth-ranked Greek, who played the best match of the 2019 French Open against Stan Wawrinka, has advanced this week by taking out Dan Evans, Pablo Cuevas, and Dusan Lajovic. Evans has been in great form and both Cuevas and Lajovic are strong on clay. Tsitsipas is more than ready for another stern clay-court test.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 2
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Both of these matches should be clay courts wars….will be fun to watch. Rublev & Tpas win.
cant wait for your daily picks on french open first round ricky. love the info and site thanks!!
Rublev and Tsitsipas to win.
Not a fan of Ruud after he taunted Kyrgios who im not a big fan of also but he had no right to get involved the way he did which suggests he’s a bit of egomaniac and very inconsiderate. So I hope Rublev wins. Rublev is the class player.
Garin didnt exactly have an easy draw and Tsitsi not very consistent , a tight three setter win for the Greek
And Rublev in three