Only eight men remain in with a chance of replacing Stefanos Tsitsipas as the champion at the Stockholm Open. So far in Sweden, there have been upsets aplenty and some excellent tennis. But who will book their place in the semifinals?
Stockholm Open Quarterfinal Predictions
Janko Tipsarevic vs Yuichi Sugita
Head-to-head: Tipsarevic 2-0 Sugita
Statistically, both players are past their primes. But that has not looked the case so far at the Stockholm Open. Former-world #8 Janko Tipsarevic, long an able deputy to his countryman Novak Djokovic in the Davis Cup, in his final tournament before retirement opened his campaign by dismantling French young gun Corentin Moutet. He backed that up by thrashing seemingly disinterested Fabio Fognini, whose London hopes took a real hit in the wake of his 1-6 1-6 loss.
After losing in three sets to the rising star Alexei Popyrin in the final round of qualifying, Yuichi Sugita has made the most of his lucky loser spot by beating both Elias Ymer and Stefano Travaglia in straight-sets. The world #129 won both tiebreakers he was required to play by a score of 8-6. Clutch. Unfortunately for Sugita, Tipsarevic has looked determined to go out on a high and, at his best, the Serbian remains a formidable opponent.
Prediction: Tipsarevic in 2
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Filip Krajinovic vs Yoshihito Nishioka
Head-to-head: Krajinovic 1-0 Nishioka
Yoshihito Nishioka is trying to reach his first semifinal of the season. The 24-year-old owns a modest 2-5 record in tour-level quarterfinals, but has impressed so far at the Stockholm Open, picking up solid wins over Radu Albot and third seed Taylor Fritz. That he was able to get the better of both the swift Albot and the more powerful Fritz suggests that his game is in good nick heading into the last at the Royal Tennis Hall.
Krajinovic, meanwhile, will be contesting his fifth quarterfinal of the year after victories over Norway’s Casper Ruud and Daniel Evans, the newly crowned British #1. But his record in hard-court quarterfinals leaves much to be desired. Barring his victory by walkover over Rafael Nadal at the Paris Masters in 2017, Krajinovic has won just one of the six he has played. With both men playing well, this should be a close call. But Krajinovic won their only previous clash in three and should be able to repeat that victory in Stockholm.
Prediction: Krajinovic in 3
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Pablo Carreno Busta vs Sam Querrey
Head-to-head: first meeting
The Spaniard struggled mightily during the first half of the season, posting a fairly miserable 13-13 record through Kitzbuhel. But since Cincinnati, the one-time world #10 has won 20 out of the 26 matches he has played and picked up his first title since 2017 in Chengdu. Now back up to 35th in the world rankings, he has looked sharp so far at the Stockholm Open, beating John Millman 6-4 6-3 before ousting the Italian qualifier Gianluca Mager with a 6-3 7-6 win.
But he will need his returning game to be at its sharpest up against Sam Querrey. The big American’s serve has been on fire in the Swedish capital and he has fired down 45 aces already in victories over Denis Novak and 2013 champion Grigor Dimitrov. But impressive as those numbers are, Carreno Busta may well be feeling confident. He generally returns well and should comfortably have the beating of Querrey off the ground.
Prediction: Carreno Busta in 2
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Denis Shapovalov vs Cedrik-Marcel Stebe
Head-to-head: first meeting
The final match of the day at the Stockholm Open will be an all-lefty battle as Denis Shapovalov takes on Cedrik-Marcel Stebe. According to Tennis Abstract, Stebe has gone 3-8 so far against fellow southpaws at tour-level, whilst Shapovalov’s record stands at 5-8. But in what might be described as typical Shapovalov fashion, the Canadian won his first two matches, including against the great Nadal, before losing his next eight and is now riding a three-match winning streak.
In the last 16, Stebe delivered a superb returning performance to smother the in-form Mikael Ymer’s second serve, winning 68% of the points against the Swedish #1’s second delivery en route to a 6-0 7-6. Shapovalov, meanwhile, enjoyed one of his best serving days, winning an Ivo Karlovic-like 92% of his first serve points against Alexei Popyrin as he picked up a 6-4 7-6. It seems unlikely that either man will be able to repeat those numbers, but expect the easy power of Shapovalov to prove decisive on the quick courts at the Royal Tennis Hall.
Prediction: Shapovalov in 2
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