Andrey Rublev makes his return to tennis with an intriguing contest against fellow up-and-comer Felix Auger-Aliassime on Thursday in Umag. Robin Haase and Martin Klizan are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(4) Andrey Rublev vs. (WC) Felix Auger-Aliassime
Rublev enjoyed a breakout 2017 campaign and he seemed to be maintaining momentum with a runner-up showing in Doha to begin this season followed by Australian Open wins over David Ferrer and Marcos Baghdatis plus consecutive quarterfinal appearances in Montpellier and Rotterdam. But the 20-year-old Russian slumped for a couple of months thereafter and then missed almost all of the clay-court swing and grass due to a back injury.
Thursday at the Croatia Open marks Rublev’s return to the match court for the first time since Monte-Carlo in mid-April, and Auger-Aliassime awaits on the other side of the net. Also hailed as one of the game’s next big stars, the 17-year-old Canadian has racked up plenty of accomplishments in juniors and Futures events, but he has not yet transitioned to the main tour. Auger-Aliassime improved to 2-4 lifetime at the ATP level (all this season) with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of lucky loser Andrej Martin on Tuesday. This is another good opportunity for the world No. 144, as Rublev is rusty and also has the pressure of defending 250 points from last year’s Umag title as a lucky loser.
Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 3
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(Q) Martin Klizan vs. (6) Robin Haase
Haase and Klizan will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers on Thursday. The head-to-head series is all tied up at two wins apiece, with Klizan leading 2-1 on clay after taking each of their two most recent encounters. Following victories for Haase in 2012 and early in 2013, the Slovak prevailed 7-5, 6-1 at the 2013 Casablanca event and survived 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 a few weeks later at the French Open.
At No. 127 in the world, Klizan had to qualify just to get into the Umag main draw. He successfully did that with defeats of Danilo Petrovic and Kenny De Schepper before destroying Nicolas Jarry 6-2, 6-0 in the first round. The 29-year-old is a solid 10-5 at the ATP level this season, but he recently suffered dreadful clay-court Challenger losses to two players outside the top 250. Haase picked up his 16th main-tour victory of 2018 by beating qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Tuesday. This is often the 38th-ranked Dutchman’s favorite time of year, as both of his ATP titles have come on post-Wimbledon clay (Kitzbuhel) and two of his three runner-up performances have come during the pre-French Open swing (Gstaad). Haase is more confident and more reliable at the moment, so he should have a slight edge.
Pick: Haase in 3
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