It’s the final day of the ATP Antwerp Open and the Lotto Arena will host the title-match as French teenager Arthur Fils and Kazakh #1, Alexander Bublik battle it out. This will be their first meeting and it promises to be a feisty one. As always, we here at LWOT offer our analysis and prediction ahead of the match, but who will come out on top?
ATP Antwerp Final Prediction
Arthur Fils vs Alexander Bublik
Head–to–head: first Meeting
Bublik landed in Antwerp in miserable form, but he’s swept all comers aside with some of the brilliant tennis he’s capable of producing when he wants to. He didn’t play a single tiebreaker and his serve has been extremely firing on all cylinders, with Bublik having struck 30 aces across his three matches here in Antwerp.
The Kazakh is unplayable when he’s in the groove and the length of this match will be determined by what version of him steps on court. In Halle earlier in the year, he defeated the trio of Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, and Andrey Rublev to secure his only title of the season and will be looking to make it two titles to make this year his most successful.
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Arthur Fils season could hardly have gone any better. Ranked outside the top 250 at the start of the year, the French prodigy is now inching towards the top 30 bracket in what has been a truly remarkable year. He has thrived on the main tour – defeating two top 10 players along the way and reached at least the quarterfinal in five events.
His numbers in Antwerp have been impressive, winning all his matches in straight sets, albeit twice being taken to tiebreakers. This will surely go the distance. This is the first meeting between two players who are closely ranked and share similar statistics. They’ve both performed admirably well indoors and having won a title each this year, they’ll be looking to go one better. This will come down to who shows more composure and mental strength. Fils is the more dependable player and I’ll back him to clinch his second title of the season.
Prediction: Fils in 3
Main photo credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
