Medvedev D. (Rus) vs Tsitsipas S. (Gre) - Tsitsipas @1.72
These two are perhaps the most consistent youngsters on tour at the moment. Collectively they have won 6 titles between them over the past two years, Medvedev having 3 years on Tsitsipas has matured into a solid player who tends to go deep in most tournaments. He is a baseline hitter who enjoys a rally or two which is strange given his height (6ft 6inches) but his willingness to outlast opponents has paid dividends.
This year Medvedev and Tsitsipas have both won a title each and both have had similar win loss records. Tsitsipas has raised more eyebrows than Medvedev due to his memorable 3-1 victory over Federer in the Australian Open. Both are also hard court and grass players more than clay but it was clay that Tsitsipas originally made his name on when he got to the Barcelona clay court final at the age of 18 only to be bulldozed off the court by Nadal.
I'm going for Tsitsipas here because he has a better all around game on court including his net superiority. He also has bigger weapons than Medvedev and that could prove the difference as Medvedev will need to work harder to win his points from the back.
Surprisingly Medvedev leads the head to head 3-0, all of which happened last year. This time it will be Tsitsipas who edges out Medvedev, most likely 2-1 to reverse last year's Basel loss.
Norrie C. (Gbr) vs Sonego L. (Ita) - Norrie @ 2.37
Cameron Norrie blows hot and cold regularly. He tends to go through spells where he looses to surprisingly poor players before then hitting a hot streak in the odd tournament. You could put this down to growing pains since coming off the challenger tour and into the ATP regular tour in 2017, the same year he turned pro.
He has a great all around game and almost won his maiden title in Auckland at the beginning of this year.
Sonegro is the favourite here because he upset Karen Khachanov, but bookies fail to see Khachanov has had a fair few slips against weaker players this year (Thompson, Berrettini, Griekspoor) and this win on it's own isn't enough to make Sonegro favourite vs Norrie.
I was more impressed with Norrie's win over Fucsovics. Fucsovics may have lost a 4 in 5 now. But if you look at the calibre of his previous opponents - Wawrinka, Federer, Auger-Aliassime you can forgive those losses. Fucsovics is a more consistent hitter than Khachanov and is a much improved player this year so for Norrie to pull off that win gives me confidence he will overcome Sonego today.
Fognini F. (Ita) vs Zverev A. (Ger) - Fognini F @ 4.00
Fognini has been struggling for form since returning from an ankle injury late last year but he is very much a clay court player and I can see him returning to his old self very soon. He just needs a good run in one clay tournament to get going and he has half a chance against wobbly looking Zverev who wasn't all so convincing against Auger-Aliassime yesterday.
Fognini has the fire power to disrupt Zverev and the variety to frustrate him, he's more than capable on the day of defeating the German who this year has lost to Munar and Struff - both lesser players than Fognini.
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