Saturday at the ATP Bucharest Open will feature the semifinals of the tournament. While the field is nowhere near as strong as in Barcelona, it does feature some very good claycourt players who will give it their all for the title here. The lack of star power shouldn’t stop this from being a great weekend of tennis for the Romanian crowd.
ATP Bucharest Semifinal Predictions
Alejandro Tabillo vs Marton Fucsovics
Head-to-head: first meeting
Alejanndro Tabilo has been having an incredible year so far, with a title in Auckland and a final in Santiago. He looks to be firmly on the rise and clay is his favorite surface, where he can do the most damage. Marton Fucsovics has shown some signs of ressurgence this year so far, but clay is far from his best surface. On this surface, Tabilo should be able to make yet another final.
Prediction: Tabilo in 2
Mariano Navone vs Gregoire Barrere
Head-to-head: first meeting
After rain delays yesterday, Mariano Navone will need to win twice today if he is to reach the final at the ATP Bucharest Open. But he is having the kind of week that makes it seem possible that he will be able to do just that. The Argentine, who reached the semifinals in Marrakech last time out, has looked very sharp so far this week and delivered an excellent performance to beat top seed Francisco Cerundolo in the quarterfinals.
That said, his win over Cerundolo was hard fought and it is hard not to think that it is advantage Gregoire Barrere given the Frenchman has had an extra day of rest. It has also been a very good week for Barrere, who showed impressive grit to get past Pedro Martinez in the quarterfinals. Navone is probably the more accomplished player and would probably win this match all things being equal. But Barrere is a good enough player to take advantage of his good fortune.
Prediction: Barrere in 3
Main photo credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
