Montreal SF previews and predictions: Ruud vs. Hurkacz, Carreno Busta vs. Evans

Hubert Hurkacz will take on an in-form Casper Ruud on Saturday afternoon for a spot in the Montreal final. Great Britain’s Daniel Evans will take on Spanish veteran Pablo Carreno Busta in the other semifinal.

(4) Casper Ruud vs. (8) Hubert Hurkacz

With seeds falling around them early and often, Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz stayed the course and now they are alone in the event representing the top 10. They will be battling it out for a spot in Sunday’s final.

Ruud had a tricky third-round match against Roberto Bautista Agut, but his other matches this week have been straightforward affairs. He was particularly impressive against an out-of-sorts Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals.

Hurkacz had a slower start to the event. The Pole went 3 sets in each of his first two matches, first against Emil Ruusuvuori, then against Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the third round. Any rust he felt, however, was worked off by the time he met Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals. Hurkacz served beautifully against Kyrgios, sticking with the Aussie for the first two sets–both of which went to tiebreakers–then rolling in the third.

Ruud is probably in better form at the moment, but the Hurkacz serve is such a weapon I can’t discount the edge it gives him–even over a quality returner like Ruud.

Cheryl pick: Hurkacz in 3

Ricky pick: Ruud in 3

Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Daniel Evans

The bottom half was chock full of surprises this week. The early losses by Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas left that section wide open. Pablo Carreno Busta, who is playing fantastic tennis this week, has been there to take full advantage.

Daniel Evans had to work much harder than the Spaniard. Three of his four matches this week have gone the distance; the one exception was his second-round contest against Andrey Rublev. The Russian was all over the place in that match and found himself out of the event with a 6-4, 6-4 scoreline.

Evans’ tennis hasn’t been on point for some of the Montreal Masters, but his mentality has been. The Brit managed to stick around long enough to find a way through each of his matches, even those in which he was soundly outplayed for part of the time.

Cheryl pick: Carreno Busta in 3

Ricky pick: Carreno Busta in 2