A blockbuster matchup between Alex de Minaur and Jannik Sinner is worthy of the Sofia title match, but they will square off in the quarterfinals on Thursday. John Millman and Vasek Pospisil are also in action.
(3) Alex de Minaur vs. Jannik Sinner
De Minaur and Sinner will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they clash in the Sofia Open quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. Their only previous encounter came at the end of last year in the NextGen ATP Finals, where Sinner rolled 4-2, 4-1, 4-2. The Italian was an underdog at the time, but he has since surged up the rankings and has to be considered the favorite over de Minaur on an indoor hard court. Sinner is an awesome 12-3 in his last 15 matches not counting retirements after beating Marton Fucsovics and Marc-Andrea Huesler with ease earlier this week.
De Minaur followed up a first-round bye with a 6-4, 7-6(5) defeat of Aslan Karatsev on Wednesday. The 25th-ranked Aussie, who is two years Sinner’s senior at 21, finished runner-up to Ugo Humbert in Antwerp and reached the Paris Masters third round before succumbing to eventual champion Daniil Medvedev in three sets. Clearly it takes something special to beat de Minaur right now, but that is exactly the kind of stuff that Sinner can bring to the table.
Pick: Sinner in 3
(6) John Millman vs. Vasek Pospisil
Pospisil is already on his second life in Sofia and it looks like he is going to make the most of it. In round one the 74th-ranked Canadian went up against Illya Marchenko, who served for the match at 5-4 in the third set and eventually led 4-0 in the decisive tiebreaker only to lose 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(5). With momentum in hand, Pospisil made much easier 6-3, 6-4 work of Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday.
Up next for the 30-year-old on Thursday is a fourth career meeting with Millman. Pospisil leads the overall head-to-head series 2-1, including 1-0 on the main tour after getting the job done 7-6(7), 6-4 in the Davis Cup Finals last fall. Millman had a much tougher second-round match in Sofia, as he needed three hours and 15 minutes to outlast Gilles Simon. The recent Nur-Sultan champion may not have enough left in the tank, and indoor hard courts favor Pospisil anyway.
Pick: Pospisil in 2
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Sinner in 2; Pops in 2.