Tennis: Quarterfinal ATP picks from Montpellier and Sofia
2019 Open Sud de France
ATP Men’s Tournament
Montpellier, France
Quarterfinal picks
Thomas Berdych over Filip Krajinovic
Thomas Berdych is back! In yesterday’s Round of 16 he just crushed Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-0, a result even he couldn’t have expected. Now he’ll play the enigmatic Serbian Filip Krajinovic, who has already had a great tournament having pocketed straight set wins over both Nicholas Mahut and second-seeded David Goffin. But no matter how well the 23-year-old Serbian is playing, his run should end here. If Berdych is really back to his old form, and it certainly looks like he is, he should out serve and out play Krajinovic and move on into the semis.
2019 Sofia Open, ATP Men’s Tournament
Sofia, Bulgaria
Quarterfinal picks
Roberto Batista Agut over Marton Fucsovics
Batista Agut is now 9-1 in 2019 and is clearly on a roll. Tennis is a funny game in that when you are confident it can make up for all sorts of other issues, because the game is so mental. Batista Agut is confident now, and it will take either a monster effort from an opponent, or a bad fall in form for that confidence to disappear. Although Fucsovics is playing well, having dispatched both Andreas Seppi and Yannick Maden (who had qualified into the main draw) he lacks the firepower to stop the Batista Agut train. The 18th ranked Spaniard should move on.
Doubles
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan over Alexander Donski and Alexander Lazarov
The Indian team of Bopanna and Sharan had a really nice win yesterday over Pavic and Zimonjic, the 42-year old wonder making a comeback on two new hips!! The Indians are on a roll now, having posted an impressive Davis Cup win over the Italians this past weekend and now over the Serb/Croatian team. They should be able to overcome Donski and Lazarov, who had a first round walkover over Basilashvili and Ebden. Although Donski and Lazarov are used to playing together, the young Bulgarians have little experience and less success on this level for me to think that they can challenge the Indians here. Although in doubles you never know.