With Rafael Nadal out, the Madrid title has suddenly become totally up for grabs. The remaining contenders are Dominic Thiem, Kevin Anderson, Alexander Zverev, and Denis Shapovalov, who will take the court for semifinal action on Saturday.
(5) Dominic Thiem vs. (6) Kevin Anderson
Anderson could have expected to meet Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinals of Mutua Madrid Open. Instead he got Dusan Lajovic. The eighth-ranked South African really could have anticipated a semifinal showdown against Rafael Nadal. Instead he will get Thiem. Nadal’s streak of 14 straight clay-court wins and 50 consecutive clay-court sets won came to an end on Friday when Thiem produced a 7-5, 6-3 upset. Even though it was the seventh-ranked Austrian’s third career victory over the current world No. 1 on this surface, it came just about of nowhere. After all, Thiem had been drubbed 6-0, 6-2 by Nadal in Monte-Carlo and was coming off a Barcelona quarterfinal loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas. He also needed three tough sets to get past both Federico Delbonis and Borna Coric earlier this week.
Now Thiem and Anderson are set for a seventh career head-to-head contest, with Anderson a surprisingly perfect 6-0 lifetime. The 31-year-old is 13-2 in total sets and Thiem has never won a single set off his nemesis without requiring a tiebreaker. They most recently faced each other in a Washington, D.C. thriller last summer, when Anderson prevailed 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(7). Anderson, who went on to finish runner-up at the U.S. Open, now finds himself in his first-ever Masters 1000 semifinal following Madrid defeats of Mikhail Kukushkin, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Dusan Lajovic. Thiem’s best level would obviously be enough to win this one, but the chances of a similar display are slim given how few and far between they have come for him this season. Conditions are right up Anderson’s alley, giving him a chance to extend his head-to-head dominance over the 24-year-old.
Pick: Anderson in 3
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Denis Shapovalov vs. (2) Alexander Zverev
Zverev and Shapovalov will be squaring off for the second time in their careers on Saturday. Their only previous encounter also came in the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament, with Zverev getting the job done 6-4, 7-5 en route to the Montreal title last summer. A borderline Masters 1000 specialist who has not yet made any serious noise at slams, the 21-year-old German also triumphed last year in Rome and recently finished runner-up in Miami. He is through to another semifinal thanks to straight-set victories this week at the expense of Evgeny Donskoy, Leonardo Mayer, and John Isner.
Shapovalov, a fourth-round performer at the U.S. Open who clearly loves the big stage as opposed to more obscure events, is through to the semis following defeats of Tennys Sandgren, Benoit Paire, Milos Raonic, and Kyle Edmund. The 19-year-old Canadian is a solid 17-10 at the ATP level in 2018 with a fourth-round finish in Miami. But this is likely when the run ends for Shapovalov, as current form, the surface, and experience all favor Zverev.
Pick: Zverev in 2
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WYG?
Zveŕev v Isner is the only match I got to see today. And I’ve tried to watch at least highlights of all Zveŕev matches.
Shapovarolov is fun to watch. Maybe he can steal a set but i’ll go with Ricky’s pick – Sascha in 2.
Anderson in 2 or Thiem in 3. Because a Thiem v Zveŕev final 🙂
I think Zverev in three, experience will pay off in a tight match assuming Shapo doesn’t suffer a reaction and lose easily.
Anderson had literally lost all ten masters quarterfinals he had previously made before this tournament. Now that he’s got that monkey off his back, I think he seizes the opportunity with a three set win, but this as close to 50/50 as it gets and I mainly pick him because he has never lost in six matches with Dominic. As for Zverev v Shapo, Zverev is in one of those locked in bulldozing modes right now and will probably win in two. PICKS: Anderson in 3 and Zverev in 2
Anderson in three, conditions suit him .
Same picks as Benny.
I hope Anderson gets to the final at least if not winning it. He’s the only one in the top ten who has not reached a Masters final other than Goffin. Goffin at least got to WTF final (not talking about slams as many of the younger top ten guys haven’t being to a slam final – Dimi,Thiem, Zverev, Goffin).
Thiem & Zv…both in 2.
Isner and Anderson are complete scumbags.
Studid to pick against Theim after yesterday’s win. Plus on his favorite court! But most on here for some reason did
What are you talking about? Nadal didn’t play well. Anderson didn’t even put up a fight. He played like the complete crackhead he is. Both Nadal and Anderson gave Thiem 30% of their game.
Thank you for saying this! The idea that it’s stupid to pick against Thiem? Please! At least he is finally getting on track. He’s done nothing until now.
That was not Rafa anywhere near his best. He has a crappy day in conditions that were not good for him and Thiem was able this time to capitalize.
The player it is stupid to pick against is Rafa!
Am assuming the pressure has got to Anderson. Too many UEs from his racket. All in all a disapointing SF so far.
Have higher hopes for this evening’s match.
Well for a Zverev fan… it was a good match. He’s so steady and confident.
I know the h2h favors Thiem but I be cheering for Zverev. Get another masters 1000 Zev!
Congratulations to Sascha! Well done getting to another Masters final!
It should be a good final with Thiem and Sasha!
Madrid always produces some interesting results because of the altitude.
Bookies hardly reacted to Nasal’s result because they know the FO is a different ball game altogether.
However, its certainly the biggest sign of a ‘changing of the guard’ we’ve seen yet from the young talent brigade.
Zverez vs Theim, what an enthralling encounter that will be, both are at the top of their game right now.
Will Zverez lose his 2nd Masters final in a row to a lower ranked player?
Zverez hasn’t dropped a set but has had arguably an easier draw.
If Zverez wins it will be big step for his career.
I like Zverez, Thiem or Coric to cause a boilover at RG also.
Coric? You have to be kidding.
If Nadal gets knocked out and Coric goes deep, anything is possible. His recent results don’t lie.
Most of the top players are getting old. We will start to see some interesting results from now on. The younger players are getting stronger and are determined. Look at all their results.
Well Fed, Delpo, Rafa, Cilic, Anderson and Isner are in top ten in the race.
Its only Sasha and Chung from the next gen who are in the top ten in the race. Add in Edmund this week and a not so young Thiem, they knocked out Dimi and Agut from the top ten.
Thiem hardly a next gen young gun, and I dont expect much from Chung so effectively its still Sacha (who’s already in top ten last year)and newly added Edmund, hardly changing of the guards anytime soon.
Maybe Fed not winning the Masters at IW/Miami and Rafa the Madrid masters made you think there’s the changing of the guards; but Fed and Rafa cant win every Masters they played in addition to winning the slams. The absence of a fit Djoko and Murray too; its no wonder four of nine masters last year were won by non big four, this year three do far.
Rafa still wins at MC and Barcelona, two of his fave events, he has to lose at one clay event and thats the norm for him and its Madrid this time so not alarming.
Thiem had reached finals at Barcelona and Madrid, SF at Rome lost to Djoko but beat Rafa in the QF in 2017, so he reaching Madrid final is not so shocking. Maybe he beating Rafa was a shock but he didnt had it easy even its in straight sets, unlike Rome last year when it looked straightforward.
I dont expect Thiem to do well at Rome after this, neither Sasha (and Sasha is the defending champion at Rome!)
Correction: Dimi remains in top ten in the race, Edmund reached QF not SF at Madrid so he’s not in top ten.
So Rafa’s results are lying??
No but I think each year he is going to get more vulnerable due to his age now that the younger guys are getting more experience under the belt.
Clay is not a surface that you can continue to dominate as you get older. I could be wrong, maybe it’s still a couple more years away from happening. Asp I’m saying is there’s a few signs this years RG could be interesting.
Didnt you see him dominating at MC and Barca? Losing early at Madrid may hell him conserve energy for Rome which is a good thing as he has not won there since 2013. Rome surface is similar to RG so all the more better for Rafa to do well thefe.
What sign? You keep saying the same thing about Rafa on clay year after year but Rafa proved you wrong always.
Im sure you took Rome results last year as a sign but looked how it turned out? When Rafa is in beast mode and he usually is at RG, not even a hard hitting Thiem can live with him; Rafa certainly far from beast mode in Madrid and he still had his chances against Thiem.
At least I get this one correct ie Sasha in two. Well done Sasha! Into another Masters final, amazing; in the past one year, he had/has been reaching Masters finals four times, won two and has a chance to win another. Compare to other players like Dimi or Goffin or Thiem, he’s already ahead of them at the Masters and he’s only 21.
The commies were saying that Shapo was the youngest QFinalist (now Sfinalist) at Madrid. Well, too bad he couldn’t reach the final to win the title, so Rafa remained the youngest winner at Madrid (in 2005).
Shapo’s game is all about attacking and I can see that he’s lacking in defence. Sasha is the more balanced or more all rounded player of the two – good at both offence and defence, playing with controlled aggression thus making fewer errors.
Thiem vs Sasha, it will be like a Stan vs Djoko match on clay, let’s see who prevails.