Fellow seeds Roberto Bautista Agut and Alex de Minaur will battle for a semifinal spot in Zhuhai on Saturday. Not far away at the Chengdu Open, Denis Shapovalov survived a thriller on Friday to set up a third career meeting with Pablo Carreno Busta.
Zhuhai Championships: (7) Alex de Minaur vs (2) Roberto Bautista Agut
At the rate they have been going the whole year and also right now in Zhuhai, both Bautista Agut and de Minaur will find themselves in year-end championships: Bautista Agut at the O2 in London and de Minaur at the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan. The former could make a debut appearance on of the biggest stages in tennis thanks to a 37-16 record for his 2019 campaign that has him up to 10th in the rankings. Bautista Agut has maintained his fine form this week with straight-set defeats of Pablo Andujar and Andreas Seppi.
De Minaur’s season is highlighted by the first two titles of his career in Sydney and Atlanta plus a fourth-round performance at the U.S. Open. The 20-year-old Australian is through to the Zhuhai semifinals with victories over John Millman, Andy Murray, and Borna Coric–the latter two in three sets. Although de Minaur has endured a much tougher path up to this point, stamina has never been an issue for him and his final set against Coric was routine. Don’t be surprised if a red-hot No. 7 seed pulls off a minor upset.
Pick: De Minaur in 3
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Chengdu Open: (8) Denis Shapovalov vs. Pablo Carreno Busta
Whereas Bautista Agut and de Minaur will be facing each other for the first time on Saturday, Shapovalov and Carreno Busta are set for a third career contest in Chengdu. The head-to-head series is tied up at one win apiece, with Carreno Busta having prevailed 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 7-6(3) at the 2017 U.S. Open before Shapovalov got the job done 6-3, 7-6(5) earlier this season on the red clay of Rome.
Shapovalov has followed up minimal Laver Cup duty with Chengdu defeats of Ricardas Berankis, Bradley Klahn, and Egor Gerasimov. Thus continues a solid stretch under new coach Mikhail Youzhny, which includes a semifinal showing in Winston-Salem and a third-round result at Flushing Meadows. Carreno Busta has now won multiple matches in five consecutive tournaments after disposing of Radu Albot, Benoit Paire, and Christian Garin while surrendering just one set to Paire in the process. The 63rd-ranked Spaniard is extremely confident right now and enjoyed a much easier quarterfinal match than Shapovalov, so he may have an edge.
Pick: Carreno Busta in 3
[polldaddy poll=10418936]
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Dr Minaur and Shapovalov both in straights.
BA and PCB in three