{"id":47157,"date":"2022-02-23T18:23:19","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T23:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=47157"},"modified":"2022-02-23T19:14:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T00:14:45","slug":"atp-dubai-quarterfinal-predictions-djokovic-vesely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/02\/23\/atp-dubai-quarterfinal-predictions-djokovic-vesely\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships Quarterfinal Predictions Including Novak Djokovic vs Jiri Vesely"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The quarterfinal round of the ATP 500 Dubai Championships is here, with a couple of surprise names. Can Jiri Vesely continue his <a href=\"https:\/\/gulfnews.com\/sport\/tennis\/dubai-duty-free-tennis-championships-jiri-vesely-downs-cilic-for-first-ever-win-in-dubai-1.85905454\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">surprise run<\/a> and upset the #1 player in the world? We share our thoughts on the four matches.<\/p>\n<h2>ATP Dubai Quarterfinal Predictions<\/h2>\n<h4>Andrey Rublev vs Mackenzie McDonald<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> McDonald 1-0 Rublev<\/p>\n<p>McDonald played very well against Aslan Karatsev for a first round upset, then went a step down against Filip Krajinovic, though he still got the win. Rublev presents <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/01\/23\/andrey-rublev-rising-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">an entirely different challenge<\/a>. The Russian is 11-2 on the season and likes the hard court, and is a legitimate threat to win the whole tournament. Rublev will likely hammer McDonald\u2019s second serve (which will put a lot of pressure on his first), and will likely hammer more or less all of McDonald\u2019s strokes, which don\u2019t come with a lot of power. This should be especially problematic from Rublev\u2019s forehand, which creates a lot of pace with good accuracy, and which moves quickly to catch balls skipping off a fast court. McDonald plays decent defense, but I have trouble seeing him keeping up with Rublev\u2019s power and aggression. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Av5iDVsfJsU\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">win against Rublev<\/a> came when the Russian was ranked about a hundred points lower.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Rublev in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"5aSh9nB5ST1i82mHUe8_Kw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1238703097\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'5aSh9nB5ST1i82mHUe8_Kw',sig:'B6qolYhCgwWggMu75DLJAmaHnGPuk0zL_QK2B904cRI=',w:'594px',h:'413px',items:'1238703097',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Hubert Hurkacz vs Jannik Sinner<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Hurkacz 1-1 Sinner<\/p>\n<p>This is a matchup of similar players, though with Sinner tending more towards aggression and offense, and Hurkacz staying more patient defensively. But each player creates a frustrating wall on both wings that induces their opponent into errors. Something here has to give, then, and I would expect Sinner to break out of the rallies more to try to end points offensively. He has the ability, although I think he prefers to defend, and this one could come down to whether Sinner is able to hit his spots against the defensively-stout Pole.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Hurkacz in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"HXbmJu6YRS1UyRjH3hH0cA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1369709132\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'HXbmJu6YRS1UyRjH3hH0cA',sig:'E9BttzSjfpRH_kH3dCYDF1zM1OeFPXrnLM8Hpj8j24E=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1369709132',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Denis Shapovalov vs Ricardas Berankis<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Shapovalov 2-1 Berankis<\/p>\n<p>In the previous matches between these two, both that were played on hard court went the way of Shapovalov. Berankis is quick, and can probably handle <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/01\/24\/denis-shapovalov-glory\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Shapovalov\u2019s power<\/a> decently, but I don\u2019t see him being able to do enough from his side to overcome Shapovalov\u2019s constant barrage. I would expect the Canadian to get good opportunities when serving out wide from the ad court, whether a sliding second serve or a heavy first serve that should give Berankis\u2019 backhand trouble. We could see some serve and volley from Shapovalov; for a power hitter, he\u2019s not very reticent to come to net. I would need to see something drastic in favor of Berankis to give him the upset over a player ranked 85 places higher, but I don\u2019t see anything. Maybe if it was on grass, where the Lithuanian got his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/ca\/tennis\/news\/wimbledon-2019-denis-shapovalov-falters-on-grass-again-ousted-in-opening-round\/9rk93yxhridr1uhm7gdlpcyo6\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lone win<\/a>.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Shapvalov in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"calNfJanShZ912i1uW5zUw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1238709551\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'calNfJanShZ912i1uW5zUw',sig:'oYxX1gYD1hzl7Msz84oxCEtIAqfnkvDLm1J2tx2OEV4=',w:'594px',h:'415px',items:'1238709551',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Novak Djokovic vs Jiri Vesely<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head:<\/strong> Vesely 1-0 Djokovic<\/p>\n<p>What do we make of a player who has provided two huge upsets thus far, but a couple weeks ago was retiring in the third round of a Challenger? And Vesely hasn\u2019t just beaten the #24 and #15 players in the world; he\u2019s done so in straight sets. Djokovic, for his part, needs no introduction, and has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/sports\/tennis\/djokovic-beats-khachanov-in-dubai-for-2nd-win-of-year\/ar-AAUdobg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">taken care of business<\/a> comfortably on his side of the draw. Can Vesely crank the upset dial to eleven? Strangely enough, he owns the single head-to-head victory. However, while I appreciate the excellence of Vesely\u2019s two wins this week (while not appreciating him <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/02\/22\/atp-dubai-day-3-predictions-murray-sinner\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">ruining my picks<\/a>&#8230;), I\u2019m not ready to take anyone outside the Top 100 over Djokovic.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Djokovic in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo from Getty.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The quarterfinal round of the ATP 500 Dubai Championships is here, with a couple of surprise names. Can Jiri Vesely continue his surprise run and upset the #1 player in the world? We share our thoughts on the four matches. ATP Dubai Quarterfinal Predictions Andrey Rublev vs Mackenzie McDonald Head-to-head: McDonald 1-0 Rublev McDonald played [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4072,"featured_media":44701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[511,15413,4849,776,17369,10870,2916,15711,5862,15518,5341,15878,2400,15602,22,15556,2183,15495,2373,2369],"class_list":["post-47157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-andrey-rublev","tag-andrey-rublev-predictions","tag-atp-dubai-predictions","tag-denis-shapovalov","tag-denis-shapvalov-predictions","tag-dubai-duty-free-tennis-championships-predictions","tag-hubert-hurkacz","tag-hubert-hurkacz-predictions","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-jannik-sinner-predictions","tag-jiri-vesely","tag-jiri-vesely-predictions","tag-mackenzie-mcdonald","tag-mackenzie-mcdonald-predictions","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-novak-djokovic-predictions","tag-ricardas-berankis","tag-ricardas-berankis-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}