Just four men remain in contention for the trophy at the ATP 250 series tournament in Bastad, Sweden. The event had no shortage of star power over the past week and if the previous days of tennis are anything to go by, semifinals day should be an enthralling affair. As ever, we at LWOT preview and predict both semifinal clashes for you.
ATP Bastad Semifinal Predictions
Pablo Carreno Busta vs Francisco Cerundolo
Head to head – First Meeting
Pablo Carreno Busta hasn’t quite had the year he would’ve hoped for. The 2020 Olympics Bronze medallist has struggled for consistency this year but on the positive side, he seems to have recovered well from his withdrawal from the recently concluded Wimbledon. The Spaniard has on a whole played solid tennis this week as he’s accustomed to producing and the straight sets drubbing of Diego Schwartzman 6-1 6-0 is no mean feat on clay.
Francisco Cerundolo is another player who has looked the part on his favorite surface growing from strength to strength. The Argentine took out the top seed Casper Ruud and then backed that up with another solid performance against Aslan Karatsev. Neither player is likely to control the match with their serve but both are pretty adept at dictating from the baseline. Expect long arduous baseline exchanges with the match being extremely tight throughout. Carreno Busta just edges this one on experience.
Prediction: Carreno Busta in 3
Sebastian Baez vs Andrey Rublev
Head to head – First Meeting
Andrey Rublev is the only top four seed to have made it so far and the Russian looks the favourite to clinch his fourth title of the year. After a slow start against Federico Coria he seems to have found his range against Laslo Djere who is a tricky opponent on clay. Playing after a month due to the ban by Wimbledon, Rublev looks extra motivated to hit his straps as soon as possible before the last Slam of the year.
Sebastian Baez played the match of the tournament when he beat Dominic Thiem in a highly entertaining encounter. The Argentine would be hoping for an all-Argentine final which looks the least likely of the four possibilities but they won’t be short of giving it their all. Baez can take it to the big players on tour as was evident in his five setter against Alexander Zverev at the French Open this year. All in all, Baez will have to do a lot of running as Rublev will likely dominate from the baseline aggressively and the Argentine will have to play a lot of points on his serve. Expect the Russian to go through on the back of superior firepower in his overall game.
Prediction: Rublev in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
