Despite top seed and World #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, alongside Alexander Zverev, both being knocked out in the previous round, the quarterfinal stage at the ATP 500 in Rotterdam still boasts a star-studded field with the likes of uprising stars Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime alongside former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
ATP Rotterdam Quarterfinal Predictions
Grigor Dimitrov vs Alex De Minaur
Head-to-head: De Minaur 2-1
These two men have had terrific starts to the year that have gone somewhat under the radar due to Novak Djokovic’s excellence routing them both in Melbourne. Outside of that though, the Bulgarian hasn’t lost a set to a player ranked outside the top five this year (12-0) whilst the Australian has already beaten Rafael Nadal and had a great win over last week’s finalist Maxime Cressy in the last round. De Minaur is what you would expect, solid and he’ll beat lower ranked players who essentially beat themselves. Dimitrov on the other hand in such form, won’t beat himself. Indoors I expect the 31 year old’s serve to give him a huge advantage and be able to hit through the the 23 year old’s defence enough to get the win.
Prediction: Dimitrov in 2
Jannik Sinner vs Stan Wawrinka
Head-to-head: Wawrinka 2-1
Despite the Swiss leading the head-to-head, both of his wins came back in 2019 with the Italian being merely a teenager at the time. With a stunning revenge victory over World #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last round it’s clear the 21-year-old is rising to the very top of men’s tennis, not only did hit tennis look complete all round, he looked good enough to beat anyone on court. At 37 years of age now, the same can’t be said about Wawrinka who’s best days are behind him. Whilst he can often still produce great shots particularly off the backhand, the movement has severely declined. It’s hard to see Sinner not backing up his great start to the year with a win here.
Prediction: Sinner in 2
Gijs Brouwer vs Tallon Griekspoor
Head-to-head: 0-0
A battle between two Dutch men for a place in their home event’s semifinal isn’t what many expected this week. Despite Brouwer coming off a retirement from the up and coming Holger Rune in the last round, he played great to say the least despite the Dane’s injury problems. His game is perfectly suited for indoors with a style similar to the likes of Feliciano Lopez with the big left handed forehand and serve. Griekspoor however has already reached new heights this year with a title in India backing it up with a third round at the Australian Open, losing to the eventual finalist and now this week a stunning win against Alexander Zverev. It’s hard to look past Griekspoor, he’s just looking so solid and in control off the ground at the start of this year.
Prediction: Griekspoor in 2
Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Daniil Medvedev
Head-to-head: Medvedev 4-0
It’s hard to say why it all went wrong for Daniil Medevev. Up two sets to love with triple break point in last year’s Australian Open final and it all went pear sized after that to say the least with the Russian now being ranked outside the world’s top 10. Fortunately for his sake, he’s never lost to the Canadian but in fairness the Canadian has come on leaps and bounds since the last time the pair met. It’s a very hard one to call, if the 2021 US Open champion plays well then realistically the 22 year old will have to serve lights out to stay competitive, which he is more than capable of doing indoors. However, if we see the Medvedev that we’ve seen the last 12 months, it’s hard to see him stopping his poor run of form.
Prediction: Auger-Aliassime in 3
Main Photo credit: Mike Frey USA Today
