After a couple of second-round upsets with second seed Pablo Carreno Busta and home star Grigor Dimitrov out of the tournament, the quarterfinals are now set. Back-to-back champion and top seed Jannik Sinner remains the one to beat in Bulgaria’s capital. As always, we here at LWOT will preview every match. Who do you think will win?
ATP Sofia Quarterfinals Predictions
Kamil Majchrzak vs Marc-Andrea Huesler
Head-to-head: Majchrzak 2-0 Huesler
Two players in the 90 to 120 ranking range going in opposite directions currently. Majchrzak is now 19-19 on the season, reaching his first ATP quarterfinal since Geneva in May. The Pole dropped outside of the Top 100 after the US Open for the first time in January, now working to get back though it looks unlikely to happen by the end of this season. The 26-year-old took a positive step this week, getting wins over Ricardas Berankis and Oscar Otte. Huesler has broken into the Top 100 for the first time in his career after a strong stretch of Mexican Challengers in April, leaving with two titles and a semifinal under his belt as well as a semifinal run in Winston-Salem. The Swiss is showing good form again, upsetting second seed Pablo Carreno Busta in three sets after defeating Geoffrey Blancaneaux in his opener. Majchrzak has won their previous two meetings on the Challenger Tour, beating Huesler 6-3 in the third in Eckental in 2019 and 7-6 7-5 in Tulln last season. On current form though, I do see Huesler winning here, especially as their previous meetings were quite close.
Prediction: Huesler in 3
Ilya Ivashka vs Holger Rune
Head-to-head: first meeting
Ivashka is continuing his form from the US hard court swing indoors in Sofia. The Belarusian made the semifinals in Atlanta and the fourth round of the US Open, now through to his fifth quarterfinal of the season. Ivashka got a very tight 7-5 in the third win over Mikael Ymer before upsetting Grigor Dimitrov in his home tournament. After a disappointing summer, Rune is looking dangerous for the first time since the clay season since the switch to indoor hard. The young Dane pushed eventual finalist Alexander Bublik to 6-4 in the third in Metz last week and is now through to his first semifinal since May after wins over Tim Van Rijthoven and Lorenzo Sonego. This should be an interesting match-up between two different styles but I will lean towards the Belarusian here.
Prediction: Ivashka in 3
Lorenzo Musetti vs Jan-Lennard Struff
Head-to-head: first meeting
Musetti has had a solid year, winning his first ATP title in Hamburg and breaking into the Top 30. He had a rough opener against Bulgarian wildcard Alexandar Lazarov who had just come off a win over Jiri Lehecka. Musetti was a set down and had to go all the way to 10-8 in the second set tiebreak before ultimately winning 6-2 in the third. Struff will be an interesting challenge, coming into his first ATP quarterfinal since St. Petersburg last season with a seven-match winning streak. The German won all three of his Davis Cup matches and qualified in Sofia before beating Dusan Lajovic and a strong 6-3 6-1 win over Ugo Humbert. Musetti looked shaky to me and I feel like Struff has a solid chance to take advantage here.
Prediction: Struff in 2
Jannik Sinner vs Aleksandar Vukic
Head-to-head: first meeting
Back-to-back Sofia champion and top seed Jannik Sinner is continuing a late push towards the ATP Finals in November, looking for his second title of the season in his happy place. After a shaky Davis Cup display for Italy, where the 21-year-old lost to Mikael Ymer and dropped a 6-1 set to Francisco Cerundolo in Bologna, Sinner made a successful start to his title defense in Sofia. The Italian looked solid throughout his win over Nuno Borges, one of the newest entrants to the Top 100 after he reached the second round at the US Open as a qualifier. Vukic has largely struggled this season but seems to be finding some form here on indoor hard. After beating Fabio Fognini in two tight sets, the Australian came back from a set down to defeat another tour veteran in Fernando Verdasco. Vukic would have to play the match if his life here to beat Sinner though.
Prediction: Sinner in 2
Main Photo from Getty Images
