The semifinal round of the 2023 ATP Hamburg European Open provides us with a rather surprising, but very exciting, line-up. Relative newcomers to the Tour in Arthur Fils and Zhizhen Zhang will battle players who have been among the world’s best on clay for years now. Alexander Zverev is the main title favorite at this point. He knows he won’t have it easy, though. Who do you think will make the final?
ATP Hamburg Semifinal Predictions
Laslo Djere vs Zhizhen Zhang
Head-to-head: First meeting
Laslo Djere was coming off a very weak showing in Gstaad with a bagel set lost to Zizou Bergs, but he’s been playing at a completely different intensity in Hamburg. A semifinalist in 2021, the Serbian is going to try to go a step further this time. Beating Lorenzo Musetti on Friday was maybe a little unexpected if you think about the ranking and potential of both players, but he’s been excelling in this matchup time and time again.
Zhizhen Zhang was really struggling to follow up his great 2022 campaign at the beginning of the year, but it seems like with main tour experience he’s managed to polish up his game. The Chinese man will probably never have the week-in, week-out consistency of other players. However, that won’t matter if his peaks are as high as in Madrid (ATP 1000 quarterfinal) or the one here. He’s a real bulldozer with extreme power at his best. Slow clay conditions often make him even stronger as he can hit through it all. Feels like this is more on his racket than Djere’s.
Prediction: Zhang in 3
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Alexander Zverev vs Arthur Fils
Head-to-head: First meeting
Arthur Fils scored his first Top 10 win to dispatch Casper Ruud, hitting an incredible 25 forehand winners in just 16 games (and finishing the match with three of them). The Frenchman is one of these youngsters with basically unlimited potential, who only needs to remain healthy and cover up a few small weaknesses to become a major threat. He went a bit quiet after claiming the title at Lyon (still at 18 years of age then), but that sort of talent was bound to explode again really soon.
Alexander Zverev is definitely not where he was right before the injury in Paris last year, but it’s been seven months since he returned to the courts and he’s been able to get himself to a top 10-adjacent level again. Hamburg is where he had his big breakthrough when he made the semifinals back in 2014. His ability to counter-punch, but also the weight of shot and the serve could be huge here. It’s one of these matches where the heart and head don’t tell you the same thing. Matchup seems to be slightly more comfortable for Zverev, so he gets a slight nod.
Prediction: Zverev in 3
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
