The ATP Basel quarterfinals lineup is set and the mouthwatering meeting between nine-time champion Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka has come to fruition. Rising Australian young gun Alex De Minaur will also be in action; as will high-flying American Reilly Opelka, who will play World No.10 Roberto Bautista Agut.
Who will advance to the semifinals, in what promises to be a tennis spectacle at the ATP Swiss Indoors in Basel?
ATP Basel Quarterfinals Predictions
Roberto Bautista Agut vs Reilly Opelka
Head-to-head: Bautista Agut 1-0 Opelka
Fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut looks to clinch a debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. He has taken some encouraging steps towards that goal with two massive victories this week. The Spanish baseliner beat last year’s surprise runner-up Marius Copil in his opener and then dug deep to secure a hard-fought victory over France’s Richard Gasquet on Wednesday.
Bautista Agut has put together a career-best season in 2019, catapulting to a Top 10 ranking and finding himself in the thick of a crowded Race to London. He will need a big week in Basel and a deep run at the Paris Masters next week in order to stamp his ticket. Before the 30-year-old can contemplate the final Masters 1000 on the calendar, he will need to overcome the big serving American Reilly Opelka, who has celebrated a number of firsts in 2019. Currently at a career-high ranking of World No.37, Opelka could put himself into a seeding position at next year’s Australian Open if he can end the season strong. After ending the 2018 season ranked just inside the Top 100 following a couple of Challenger Tour titles in Knoxville and Champaign, he has taken his game to the next level in 2019. With a couple of Top 10 victories to his name this year, could he inflict a third to London aspirant Bautista Agut on Friday?
It is worth noting that both of Opelka’s aforementioned Top 10 victories came against fellow American John Isner–a player very much in his mold, both in terms of stature and game style. Bautista Agut will need to be very clinical when opportunities to break serve arise (something David Goffin paid a heavy price for in the second round), and judging by their last meeting at Shanghai Masters where Bautista Agut won in straight sets, the Spaniard should once again carve a route around the 6’11” Opelka.
Prediction: Bautista Agut in 3
Alex De Minaur vs Jan-Lennard Struff
Head-to-head: De Minaur 1-0 Struff
Australia’s fast-rising star Alex De Minaur secured a fine win over Alexander Zverev’s conqueror Taylor Fritz in the second round. The 20-year-old carved out ten break point chances against the American, converting four of them, and at one stage won five consecutive games towards a routine 6-3 6-3 win. De Minaur who has already qualified for the NexGen ATP Finals in Milan, has compiled a 28-17 record for the season. That includes three Tour-level titles, the first of which came in his hometown of Sydney in January. Considering he missed part of the campaign due to a hip injury, it has been fantastic breakout season for the Aussie young gun.
Next up for him will be another big server, Jan-Lennard Struff, who has racked up a total of 33 aces in two matches this week. The 29-year-old German had never made a tour-level semifinal before this year, but that all changed when he reached the last four in Auckland. After playing some of the best tennis of his life, Struff reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, the first time he had ever advanced that far in a Major. He then made the second semifinal of his career at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.
This will be another good opportunity for him to make his third semifinal, but certainly not the easiest by any stretch of imagination. However, Struff’s big game is tailor made for the quick, slick surface of Basel and with De Minaur failing to find answers in his two recent defeats against big servers in Isner at the Shanghai Masters and Lloyd Harris in Tokyo, I am backing the German to serve his way to a third semifinal of the season.
Prediction: Struff in 3
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Filip Krajinovic
Head-to-head: Tsitsipas 2-0 Krajinovic
Stefanos Tsitsipas avoided becoming the second high profile victim this week to exit the tournament as he rallied from a set down to beat Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis. With his three-set win, Tsitsipas advanced to the quarterfinals of an ATP tour-level event for a joint-leading 13th time in 2019. The young Greek had lost five of his six matches shortly after reaching the semis in Washington and appeared to be struggling for form. But he has bounced back well over the past month by reaching the final of the China Open and the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters. Those results confirmed his qualification at the season-ending finale in London for the first time in his career.
Krajinovic, meanwhile, has been playing some of his best tennis recently. Showcasing the indoor form that saw him reach the finals of the Paris Masters in 2017, the Serbian fought his way to the final of last week’s Stockholm Open. He has shown no fatigue this week, blitzing through Laslo Djere and Fabio Fognini without losing a set.
Tsitsipas won the pair’s only meeting, at the French Open earlier this year. Right now, though, Krajinovic is playing better tennis, with more confidence, and has an easy power more suited to the indoor courts. I expect to see an upset in this one.
Prediction: Krajinovic in 2
Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Stan Wawrinka withdrew from his quarterfinal match with a back injury.
Roger Federer vs Stan Wawrinka
Head-to-head: Federer 23-3 Wawrinka
On his second outing this week in front of an adoring home crowd, Roger Federer produced another stellar performance to beat Radu Albot in just 63 minutes. His crushing 6-0 6-3 win over the Moldovan was his 22nd straight victory in Basel, and even at 38, it is a testament to his legendary status that he is the overwhelming favorite to claim an unprecedented 10th title at the event.
Federer will face his toughest test yet when he plays his compatriot Stan Wawrinka in the last eight. Wawrinka has already made two finals this year, both indoors, but came up short each time–losing to Gael Monfils in Rotterdam and Andy Murray in Antwerp last weekend. The 34-year-old has beaten Federer three times in 26 meetings. Remarkably, none of those have been on courts other than clay. That dismal head-to-head record along with his recent record in Basel where he has suffered three first round exits in his last five appearances puts Wawrinka as a huge underdog in this contest. Expect the nine-time champion to sail through.
Prediction: Federer in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
Disagree with our ATP Basel Quarterfinal Predictions? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts on the ATP Basel Quarterfinal matches in the comments.
