It would be fair to say that the ATP tennis in Bastad on Friday was dominated by one match. Federico Coria’s surprise victory over #2 seed Cristian Garin was the undoubted highlight of quarterfinal day.
Who will make it into the ATP Bastad final, though?
ATP Bastad Semifinals Predictions
Yannick Hanfmann vs Federico Coria
Head-to-head: Coria 3-0 Hanfmann
As a result of the aforementioned shock, the Argentine is through to his fourth semifinal in five weeks. This statistic perhaps isn’t as impressive as it seems as the other tournaments were on the Challenger Tour. However, getting in the hours and all important wins on the European clay has clearly made him match tough for this. His win over Garin makes him favourite here.
However, Hanfmann is also excellent on the clay. He is the much bigger man with a more powerful game. The German will be in his first ATP semifinal since Kitzbuhel last year and he won’t have the altitude to help his serve. Not that he’s needed that this week, holding over 90% of his service games.
That one-sided head-to-head record suggests that Coria should win this. However, I’m going to go the other way on this occasion. I certainly think it’ll go three sets but I think the German is serving that well that it’ll make the difference this time.
Prediction: Hanfmann in 3
Capser Ruud vs Roberto Carballes Baena
Head-to-head: Ruud 3-1 Carballes Baena
Casper Ruud has been praying to the right Norse gods this week. We’re in the semifinals and the Norwegian has played the grand total of 14 games. Not only that, he is up against an opponent he lost only one game to earlier this year!
Carballes Baena will probably already be happy with his week’s work. His display against Norbert Gombos in the quarterfinals was one of his better performances of the year. This gives him hope ahead of this clash.
However, I think that it’s highly likely that the better and fresher player wins this one. Add in the fact that there was a massive gulf between them on clay five months ago and there’s only one likely winner.
Prediction: Ruud in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
