After a thrilling start to the week, the ATP Cup round robin is over with eight teams having advanced to the quarterfinals. The last eight ties will now be played over Thursday and Friday in Sydney with Great Britain taking on Australia in Thursday’s morning session and Argentina set to do battle with Russia that evening, whilst Serbia and Canada will clash on Friday morning followed by Spain versus Belgium in the evening session. But who will book their place in the semifinals?
ATP Cup Quarterfinal Predictions
Nick Kyrgios vs Cameron Norrie
Head-to-head: Norrie 1-0 Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios is rarely better than when he is playing for Australia and that has been the case again at the ATP Cup. Although the 24-year-old was forced to pull out of Australia’s second tie against Canada, he scored valuable singles wins over Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, in what will surely prove to have been one of the matches of the year. However, he may need to be at his best once again when he takes on Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Norrie, who enjoyed a career-best season in 2019, has won two of his three matches so far at the ATP Cup, beating Bulgaria’s Dimitar Kuzmanov and Alexander Cozbinov of Moldova either side of a one-sided defeat at the hands of Belgian #2 Steve Darcis. But it may be a concern to the British team that he is yet to play an opponent ranked inside the top 100, with Kuzmanov and Cozbinov sitting at 417th and 816th in the ATP rankings respectively. Kyrgios, the world #29, will surely prove a step-up in class.
Norrie may take some confidence from having beaten the Australian in their only previous meeting, but that win in the Atlanta Open quarterfinals did come via a Kyrgios retirement. With Kyrgios seemingly fit and firing at the ATP Cup, it is hard to see a path to victory for Norrie. The Briton moves well and at his best makes few mistakes from the back of the court. But his game is slightly one-dimensional and he cannot come close to matching Kyrgios’ weaponry.
Prediction: Kyrgios in 2
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Alex De Minaur vs Dan Evans
Head-to-head: De Minaur 1-1 Evans
Alex De Minaur also found himself forced onto the sidelines during the ATP Cup round-robin stage, missing out on Australia’s final Group F tie against Greece. But he had already played a vital role in securing their place in the quarterfinals with impressive comeback wins over the struggling Alexander Zverev and the in-form Denis Shapovalov. Dan Evans, meanwhile, has impressed in rebounding from a three-set defeat to Grigor Dimitrov in his opener to secure wins over David Goffin and Radu Albot.
The Briton has the game to test De Minaur, wit the pair having split their two previous meetings. Perhaps surprisingly, De Minaur came out on top on the grass courts in Nottingham two years ago, with Evans avenging that defeat last season in the first round in Montreal. Both matches were decided inside two sets, but were closely fought and this match seems likely to follow a similar pattern. But De Minaur’s excellent return and increased versatility, not to mention the sure to be vocal support of the Australian crowd, should give him the edge against the crafty Evans.
Prediction: De Minaur in 3
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Karen Khachanov vs Guido Pella
Head-to-head: Pella 1-0 Khachanov
Karen Khachanov rather failed to live up to expectations last season after ending his 2018 by winning the Paris Masters. But he has played some excellent tennis so far at the ATP Cup to win all three of his singles matches during the round robin stage, dropping just one set in the process. However, he will likely have his work cut out for him if he wants to maintain that perfect record when he takes on the dependable Guido Pella, who enjoyed the best season of his career in 2019. That included a fairly comprehensive victory over Khachanov in the first round in Barcelona.
But the clay courts in Catalonia are rather more suited to his game than the relatively quick hard courts of Australia, although Pella did win two of his three round robin matches, including against 2018 Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic, as well as reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals last season. That said, the Croatian is not the player he once was and Khachanov has looked imposing at the ATP Cup. Pella is good enough to make a match of it, but Khachanov should be able to overpower him in the end.
Prediction: Khachanov in 3
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Daniil Medvedev vs Diego Schwartzman
Head-to-head: Medvedev 2-0 Schwartzman
After making a dreadful start to his season by losing the opening set 1-6 to Fabio Fognini, world #5 Daniil Medvedev was quick to right the ship. He rallied to beat Fognini 1-6 6-1 6-3, before dismissing American John Isner and Casper Ruud of Norway, with those wins playing a vital role in steering Russia into the quarterfinals. Diego Schwartzman, in contrast, has struggled to make a positive impact so far for Argentina at the ATP Cup.
He lost his opening two matches in Sydney, falling in a three-set thriller to Hubert Hurkacz of Poland before Austria’s Dominic Thiem proved too strong in a 6-3 7-6 win. However, he did recover to beat Borna Coric of Croatia for the loss of only two games, a win that kept Argentina’s quarterfinal hopes afloat. However, he may approach this match with some trepidation, having lost both of his previous matches against Medvedev, including in relatively similar conditions at the Japan Open in 2018.
Schwartzman is one of the best ball-strikers on tour, which does much to compensate for his diminutive stature, and few cover the court better. But Medvedev is arguably one of those few. The Russian is tireless in his pursuit of victory and the variety of looks he gives opponents from the baseline ensures he is always an awkward opponent to face. He is also a much better server than Schwartzman and more at home in the Australian conditions. Expect him to secure a valuable win for Russia without undue difficulty.
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