With four enterprising grass-court players still in contention at the ATP Halle Open, it promises to be an entertaining day of semifinal action in Germany. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for both semifinals, but who will secure their spot in Sunday’s final in Halle?
ATP Halle Semifinal Predictions
Alexander Bublik vs Alexander Zverev
Head-to-head: Bublik 2-1 Zverev
Alexander Bublik has delivered a reminder this week of what an exciting player he can be when he sets his mind to it, particularly on faster surfaces. He has reason to be confident coming into this match, reasons probably, having beaten Borna Coric, Jan-Lennard Struff and Jannik Sinner (albeit via retirement) this week as well as getting the better of Alexander Zverev in two of their three previous meetings. That said, Zverev should have the crowd behind him. He has also twice reached the final at this event.
He contested the most recent of those finals back in 2017, and has playd indifferently on the grass since, but has looked comfortable so far this week at the ATP Halle Open, beating Dominic Thiem, Denis Shapovalov and the in-form Nicolas Jarry to reach the last four. Bublik will ask him questions that trio could not, but for all the Kazakh’s ingenuity on the court, it is very hard to contend with Zverev when he is hitting the ball as cleanly as he has done this week.
Prediction: Zverev in 3
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Roberto Bautista Agut vs Andrey Rublev
Head-to-head: Bautista Agut 4-4 Rublev
Too many have pigeonhold Roberto Bautista Agut as a clay-courter simply because he is Spanish. In fact, he is clearly at his best on the grass. His excellent court-coverage combined with flat, penetrating groundstrokes, made him a real threat on the grass earlier in his career and he has been recapturing the sort of form that took him to a Wimbledon semifinal in 2019. The problem for Bautista Agut might be that his semifinal opponent in Halle, Andrey Rublev, has a similar skillset.
The Russian has had to work hard for his place in the semifinals, however, and has not looked entirely comfortable in beating Wu Yibing, Yannick Hanfmann and Tallon Griekspoor, though he does deserve credit for hanging tough to dig out the win in all three matches. Still against Bautista Agut, who levelled their head-to-head at four wins apiece earlier this season in Adelaide, he might need to find another gear and the evidence of this week suggests he might not have another to call on.
Prediction: Bautista Agut in 3
Main photo credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
