Grigor Dimitrov and Jack Sock are wrapping up outstanding 2014 campaigns as they head into an intriguing quarterfinal on Friday in Stockholm. Fernando Verdasco and Bernard Tomic are also bidding for a place in the last four.
Jack Sock vs. (2) Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov will be hoping to improve his World Tour Finals chances when he continues his If Stockholm Open campaign during quarterfinal action on Friday. The 10th-ranked Bulgarian is 11th in the race to London, but barely more than 500 points separate six men from No. 6 to No. 11. Dimitrov is looking to bounce back from a second-round Shanghai loss to Julien Benneteau and he kicked off his week on Wednesday with a 7-5, 7-6(4) over Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Up next for the second seed is a first-ever meeting with Sock, for whom it has already been a stellar week. The 51st-ranked American is through to his seventh ATP quarterfinal of the year thanks to defeats of Andrey Golubev and Jeremy Chardy. With a 26-18 record at the ATP level in 2014, Sock will break into the top 50 for the first time in his career on Monday. The 22-year-old can match his opponent in the power department and will be able to finish plenty of points quickly on an indoor hard court, but Dimitrov’s superior defensive skills should prove to be the difference in most of the extended rallies by making Sock hit the extra shot in crucial moments.
Pick: Dimitrov in 3
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(7) Fernando Verdasco vs. Bernard Tomic
Verdasco and Tomic will be squaring off for the third time in their careers on Friday, with the head-to-head series standing at 1-1. Their most recent encounter was a memorable one–at least for Tomic. With home-court advantage amidst a raucous atmosphere, Tomic outlasted the Spaniard 4-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 in the opening round of the 2012 Australian Open. Verdasco’s victory came back in 2009, when he prevailed 6-4, 6-2 in Brisbane.
With new coach Xavier Malisse temporarily if not permanently in his corner, Tomic is off to a strong start in Stockholm. The world No. 76 struggled with Swedish wild card Patrick Rosenholm in round one but then upset third-seeded Kevin Anderson 7-6(4), 6-4. Verdasco has navigated a similar path, with a three-set win over Marinko Matosevic followed by a routine 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jarkko Nieminen. The world No. 36 has struggled of late and needs some late results in 2014 for Australian Open seeding in January. Still, he should have the edge on an indoor hard court if he is willing to to serve aggressively in addition to what is always a punishing forehand.
Pick: Verdasco in 3
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Dimi;
Tomic.
^^^^ Ditto
^^^^Congratulations to us! Tomic wins in three sets.
I just knew it. Anyone can beat Fer now, on any surface. I wonder why he even bothers turning up now…..
very nearly reached a semifinal….
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So, it’ll be Ernie and RBA in the semis. I’ll have my popcorn ready.
A tad ragged but Daveed battles his way through to the final.
Dang, none of my TV stations are showing any of the ATP tournies, only WTA would you believe. And I cancelled my Tennis TV subs. I will miss the Ernie/RBA show. Gutted.
Cant you re-subscribe?
I guess I should, and will at some point……….
I’m gutted too. Hadn’t realised the ATP streaming was not covering the men’s SFs so only just discovered I can’t watch the Gulbis match either.
should have read Moscow SFs.
ed251137 ( at 3:24 pm)
The ATP streaming doesn’t cover men’s matches from Moscow.
Evidenty!!!!
Did anyone watch the match. How many racquets did Gulbis destroy?
zero
Evidenty!!!!
Did anyone watch the match. How many racquets did Gulbis destroy?
I watched most of it. Only saw Ernie smash one racquet, and the racquet just bounced, didn’t break, and he continued to use it. The handshake was interesting…Ernie kind of stared RBA down, but RBA wasn’t having any of it.
^^I didn’t feel like watching it on a stream, so I was just watching what The Tennis Channel was offering, and they were switching around among the various matches throughout Europe, so only part of the Ernie/RBA match was shown live on the broadcast channel.
Typical numpty behavior from Ernie then………….
no, Gulbis behaved well whole match. RBA was out of control afterward.
RBA was at fault
^^During the match, they both seemed intent on just concentrating on playing. I just saw the one time that Ernie bounced his racquet and even then, it was very controlled. It seemed like he was making an effort to not let extraneous issues interfere. Wonder how his shoulder will be for Basel…no real healing time.
ed251137 (at 4:33 pm),
I get streaming information from this page:
http://www.tennistv.com/tournaments
Glad the “spoilt princess” beat the Latvian pretender!
I commented here:
https://tenngrand.com/2014/10/17/semifinal-previews-and-picks-gulbis-vs-bautista-agut-dimitrov-vs-tomic/