Two seeds remain in Umag, and they have tough clay-court matchups on their hands during semifinal action on Saturday. Robin Haase is going up against Guido Pella, while Marco Cecchinato faces former French Open lucky loser Marco Trungelliti.
Guido Pella vs. (6) Robin Haase
Haase and Pella will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the Croatia Open final on Saturday. Pella has reached one ATP title match in each of the past two seasons and he is one round away from making it three in a row; two victories from his first winner’s trophy on the main tour. Clay is the surface on which the 72nd-ranked Argentine generally does his best work, but he is coming off a stunning performance at Wimbledon–where he shocked Marin Cilic from two sets down before falling to Mackenzie McDonald in the third round. So far in Umag, Pella has recovered from a set deficit against both Taro Daniel and Aljaz Bedene while also beating Dusan Lajovic 7-6(3), 7-5.
Both of Haase’s ATP titles have come on post-Wimbledon clay (Kitzbuhel in 2011 and 2012). Four of his five finals have come on clay, and the 38th-ranked Dutchman appears poised to make it five out of six on the red stuff–and perhaps even three for three in terms of titles. He has improved to 18-19 at the main-tour level in 2018 with wins this week at the expense of Rogerio Dutra Silva, Martin Klizan, and Andrey Rublev. Haase is arguably looking like the best player in Umag right now and his run should continue following a hard-fought contest.
Pick: Haase in 3
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(3) Marco Cecchinato vs. (Q) Marco Trungelliti
For a couple of days, Trungelliti was the talk of the French Open. Eighth in line for a luck-loser spot after getting ousted in qualifying at the season’s second major, the 28-year-old Argentine returned to his training base in Barcelona. But withdrawal after withdrawal ensued, and Trungelliti got in. Thus he made the nine-hour trek from Barcelona to Paris with his brother, mother, and grandmother in tow. It paid off, as the current world No. 188 beat Bernard Tomic the next day.
Trungelliti’s run came to an end at the hands of Cecchinato, an eventual semifinalist who won their second-round contest 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-1. Their only previous encounter came last season at a clay-court Challenger tournament in Ostrava, where Cecchinato prevailed 7-6(2), 6-3. The world No. 25 has remained in fine form since his French Open breakthrough, with a surprising grass-court semifinal in Eastbourne and victories this week over Jiri Vesely and Laslo Djere. Trungelliti did not need a luck-loser entrance this time around, as he successfully qualified before parlaying those results into main-draw defeats of Franko Skugor, Marton Fucsovics, and Evgeny Donskoy. Nothing, however, suggests the underdog will suddenly turn the head-to-head tide against such a confident opponent.
Pick: Cecchinato in 2
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