The quarterfinals are upon us at the ATP Hamburg European Open a 500 event. In what started as a loaded field, six unseeded players have made their way into the final eight. With a number of star names in action, expect plenty of entertaining tennis. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our previews and predictions for every match. But who will reach the semifinals?
ATP Hamburg Quarterfinal Predictions
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs Lorenzo Musetti
Head-to-head: first meeting
A next-gen quarterfinal battle between Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Lorenzo Musetti is set to kick off the Friday action in Hamburg. Both players favor the clay as their favorite surface, looking very solid in their first and second round victories. In what looks like a very close match on paper, I believe this one will come down to consistency. I have slightly more confidence in Davidovich Fokina raising his level in the tight parts of this match.
Prediction: Davidovich Fokina in 3
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Aslan Karatsev vs Francisco Cerundolo
Head-to-head: Cerundolo 1-0 Karatsev
Francisco Cerundolo comes into this match on a seven-match win streak. The young Argentine won the title last week in Bastad and bested Andrey Rublev in the second round in Hamburg to reach this quarterfinal match. He is a clay-court ringer, holding a record of 24-9 on the surface this season. He will be facing Aslan Karatsev who picked up a nice three-set win in the round of 16 over a strong clay-court player in Daniel Galan. With that said, Cerundolo easily took down Karatsev last week in Bastad and should be able to roll over him once again.
Prediction: Cerundolo in 2
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Alex Molcan vs Borna Coric
Head-to-head: first meeting
After a shoulder injury kept Borna Coric out for most of the 2021 season, the former top-15 player is looking to re-hone his game and climb the ATP rankings. This is Coric’s first quarterfinal appearance in his seventh tour-level tournament of the season. He takes on 24-year-old Slovakian Alex Molcan who is into the biggest quarterfinal of his career. Molcan has proven to be a strong clay-court player, holding a 14-7 record on the surface this season. He looked very sharp in a deciding third-set tiebreaker against Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round. I think this will be a back-and-forth battle with the more in-form Molcan coming out on top.
Prediction: Molcan in 3
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Carlos Alcaraz vs Karen Khachanov
Head-to-head: Alcaraz 1-0 Khachanov
Both Carlos Alcaraz and Karen Khachanov came from a set down in the first round winning their round of 16 matches in straight sets to vault themselves into the quarterfinals in Hamburg. The young Spaniard is 22-2 on the clay this season, including a straight-sets victory over Khachanov in the fourth round at Roland Garros. The 26-year-old Russian is looking to snap his 17-match losing streak against top-10 opponents. Although Alcaraz has not been on his “A-game” this week, I still expect him to be able to best Khachanov and reach the semifinals.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 3
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