Only three seeds are left in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Croatia Open, and two of them are playing each other. Will we see a new champion this week? Who can advance to the final four?
ATP Croatia Open Quarterfinal Predictions
Attila Balazs vs Stefano Travaglia
Head-to-head: Balazs 1-0
Balazs is really mastering the art of escape this week. The Hungarian saved seven match points against Viktor Galovic in the first round and then had to break Filip Krajinovic to stay in the tournament on Wednesday. Travaglia advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating two of his countrymen: Thomas Fabbiano and Fabio Fognini, who retired just after 37 minutes of play. The Italian was very impressive in clay court Challengers all season and it’s hard to expect Balazs to pull a Houdini for the third time in a row.
Prediction: Travaglia in 3
Laslo Djere vs Leonardo Mayer
Head-to-head: Djere 1-0
The 24-year-old Serbian comes into this one as a slight favorite according to the bookies. He hasn’t managed to repeat his Rio de Janeiro performance (where he got his first ATP title) but is in the middle of a very solid season. Djere advanced to the quarterfinals with a tight three-set win over Paolo Lorenzi. Mayer’s path was far more impressive as the Argentinian advanced beating Pablo Andujar and Jiri Vesely. Due to the Serbian’s unconvincing performance against the 37-year-old Italian veteran and Mayer’s good recent clay results (Roland Garros fourth round), expect the Argentinian to dominate points with his huge serve and be able to keep cool in high-pressure situations.
Prediction: Mayer in 3
Salvatore Caruso vs Facundo Bagnis
Head-to-head: Bagnis 1-0
Bagnis survived a scare in the first round when he was 2-5 and match point down to Martin Klizan and went on to defeat Croatian wildcard Nino Serdarusic. Both players play mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour but it’s the 26-year-old Italian who’s had more big runs this year, including reaching the Roland Garros third round (lost to Djokovic) as a qualifier. Caruso has already won four matches here. In the main draw, he has overcome Corentin Moutet and the second seed Borna Coric and he should be able to come out on top again in his first ATP Tour quarterfinal.
Prediction: Caruso in 2
Dusan Lajovic vs Aljaz Bedene
Head-to-head: Lajovic 4-0
It’s the fourth seed Dusan Lajovic’s best season so far and it’s mainly because of one result. The Serbian reached his maiden tour final at an ATP Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo, defeating Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, and Daniil Medvedev along the way. Although he has the failed to back that up, it seems like he might be back on the right track after a great Thursday win over Andrey Rublev. Lajovic has a nice all-round game and will come into the quarterfinal against Aljaz Bedene from the position of a favorite. It will be a battle of baseline consistency and on current form it looks like the Slovenian might have a good shot to reverse that head-to-head. Bedene advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Marco Cecchinato and Jannik Sinner and he can pose a real threat to Dusan Lajovic.
Prediction: Bedene in 3
Disagree with our Croatia Open predictions? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
