It’s been an incredible week of ATP tennis in Munich so far and we’re down to our final four competitors. And with the field narrowing, thoughts of lifting the winner’s trophy on Sunday are becoming closer and closer to reality.
How will Saturday’s semifinals matches play and who will be the final two players standing in Munich? I give my best guesses!
ATP Munich Semifinals Predictions
Oscar Otte vs Holger Rune
Head to Head: never played
Oscar Otte did one-better than his Belgrade quarterfinal appearance last week, now making the semifinals of Munich. Otte beat Alejandro Tabilo 6-1 7-6(1) to reach the final four. Otte won 78% of his first serves and was only broken once, while also winning 48% of his return points.
Holger Rune has had an impressive run to the semifinals of Munich. After taking down Alexander Zverev in straight sets in the round of 16, Rune beat Emil Ruusuvuori 6-0 6-2 to gain his place in the semifinals. Rune won 79% of his first serves and didn’t get broken in the match while breaking serve in five of seven return games.
These two have never played before. While Rune is serving well this week, Otte is generally the better server and is very good at hitting his spots with pace. Rune, however has the better clay baseline game and is doing a great job this week at keeping opponents off-balance with his variety, not allowing them to establish a rhythm from the baseline.
With the way Rune is playing against quality opposition in Munich, it’s impossible to go against him.
Prediction: Rune in 2
Miomir Kecmanovic vs Botic van de Zandschulp
Head to Head: 1-0 Kecmanovic
Miomir Kecmanovic has continued his incredible season in Munich. In his quarterfinal match against defending champion Nicoloz Basilashvili, Kecmanovic was able to take the match in straight sets. Kecmanovic did especially well on his second-serve return, winning 67% of his second-serve return points.
Botic van de Zandschulp pulled off a huge upset over #2 seed Casper Ruud in his quarterfinal match. Van de Zandschulp won 76% of his service points, including 12/15 second-serve points, and wasn’t broken in the match. Given Ruud’s clay-court prowess, this is especially impressive.
Kecmanovic leads the head to head 1-0, having won 7-6(3) 7-5 in the clay-like conditions of Indian Wells earlier this season. Kecmanovic is having the best season of his young career, having made the round of 16 at the Australian Open, and the quarterfinals of both Indian Wells and Miami. His ability to play with controlled aggression and not give away free points has been vital to his success and he has done an excellent job with point construction.
Botic van de Zandschulp has a huge game and has won at least 70% of his first serves in every match this week. But, to beat Ruud in that fashion shows that he’s also able to hold his own from the baseline. With that said, Ruud was a bit erratic this week and not at his best. Kecmanovic, like he did in Indian Wells, will force van de Zandschulp to hit many extra shots and won let the Dutchman control the baseline in the way that he has this week.
Expect Kecmanovic to grind this match out.
Prediction: Kecmanovic in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
