Saturday promises to be a fascinating day of tennis on the Californian coast at the ATP San Diego Open with four players vying to reach the final. This is the final tournament before the ATP stars head to the desert to compete at the Indian Wells Masters which should give every man left standing plenty of motivation. But who will advance into Sunday’s showpiece?
ATP San Diego Semifinal Predictions
Andrey Rublev vs Cameron Norrie
Head-to-head: Rublev 1-0 Norrie
Andrey Rublev will lock horns against British #2 Cameron Norrie in the first semifinal. Norrie is certainly expected to produce a much better showing than the last time these two met in Rublev’s home tournament at St. Petersburg last season. The 26-year-old southpaw has strung together a superb 2021 season in which he collected his maiden ATP title in Los Cabos and attained his current career-high ranking of world #28.
His latest win over Denis Shapovalov came under a cloud of serenity as he dismissed the fourth seed for the loss of only four games. It was Norrie’s 40th match win of the season – his personal best at tour level. This, however, will be a difficult hurdle to clear. Should Rublev polish up his second serve (which has looked attackable so far this week), the Russian’s power and poise off the ground should be too much for the Briton to contend with.
Prediction: Rublev in 3
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Casper Ruud vs Grigor Dimitrov
Head-to-head: first meeting
Not many people thought Casper Ruud would have a productive second half of the season. But with the clay-court swing out of the way, Ruud has shown he is not a one-trick pony. After making back-to-back quarterfinals in Toronto and Cincinnati, he has now reached his first semifinal of the season on hard courts in San Diego, seeing off the challenges of Andy Murray and Lorenzo Sonego without dropping a set.
Grigor Dimitrov, for his part, has reached his first semifinal of the season. The 2021 Australian Open quarterfinalist was an injury concern after retiring from his US Open second-round match with a foot injury. But after taking a month off, the Bulgarian has returned in fine spirits. He played exceptional tennis against Aslan Karatsev on Friday, avenging the defeat he suffered in Melbourne, and is now seeking to reach his first final since 2018. Granted Ruud has been in decent form of late, he is far from a finished article. Dimitrov’s attacking brand of tennis and his hard-court pedigree should swing this matchup in his favor.
Prediction: Dimitrov in 3
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