The first few tournaments of the new year are already producing some excellent tennis and the prospect of some big finals to come, none more so than the Doha ATP tournament where it maybe a little premature but Djokovic and Wawrinka are on collision course a final showdown. If they do manage to both get through to the final it will be a rerun of both the French Open 2015 and the US Open 2016 where Wawrinka destroyed Djokovic in both finals. Of course there were countless other matches in their history where Djokovic prevailed but these were perhaps two of the most significant considering they were slam finals and the US final was the last time these two giants clashed.
Stan Getting Back to His Best
Stan the Man is looking near his best once again after returning from a layout of 3 months last year. He is hitting his back hand with dominance and confidence, in particular his famous shot down the line and yesterday he overcame another tricky player - Chile's big serving Nicolas Jarry. In that match Wawrinka demonstrated just why he is a 3 time Grand Slam champion - he absorbed the power of Jarry whilst unleashing countless blunder busters of his own to keep Jarry penned back. Wawrinka will be happy that in both his matches in Doha he has won in straight sets minimsing his court time.
Novak Weathers the Storm
The same can't be said for Novak Djokovic who didn't have it as easy as Wawrinka yesterday when he faced a much improved Hungarian who. Djokovic was really threatened by Fucsovics in the 1/8 finals who took the first set 6-4. Fucsovics battled toe to toe with Djokovic for the first two sets but failed to get over the line in the second before tanking in the final set. Nevertheless in the second Djokovic looked wobbly after conceding the first and being unable to handle the power of Fucsovics from the back.
The US Open and Wimbledon Champion did though show why he is world number one right now, after absorbing an onslaught he did exceptionally well to up his level in the second to keep with a surging Fucsovics and get the decisive break before dominating in the third set 6 games to 1. By the third set Fucsovics just ran out of steam and looked a spent force.
Stan Wawrinka vs Roberto Bautistat Agut
Today in the Quarter Finals of Doha Wawrinka faces a very calculated opponent from Argentina who also has won his first two matches of the year in straight sets. His calibre of opponents have been no where near Stan's because Bautistat Agut is seeded due to being ranked 24th in the world where as Wawrinka is trying to recover his loss in ranking after injury.
Whilst Bautistat Agut is a disciplined player with accurate shots from the baseline he simply isn't on the level Wawrinka is on and I expect this to go Wawrinka's way. The Swiss has already shown in the first round against the 3rd seed Karen Khachanov that he has the weapons to overpower even a young towering Russian on the rise and a Chilean of similar power in round two. Standing at only 6ft you wouldn't think Wawrinka would over power these sorts of guys from the back but the way the Swiss hit's the ball, he is a specialist at bullying big and small opponents. Expect to see more dominance off Wawrinka's back hand side tonight against the Argentine as he looks to draw on his favourite weapon to score quick points.
Prediction: I'll be going for a straight sets win for Stan at 2.75 (1%) and an outright win for Stan at 1.72 (2%).
Novak Djokovic vs Nikoloz Basilashvili
If Novak Djokovic thought his match vs Marton Fucsovics was a hairy encounter he will really have to knuckle down against today's opponent. He is facing perhaps the hardest and flattest hitting player on tour who plays with an uncompromising style - Nikoloz Basilashvili. Basilashvili has made the perfect start to 2019 with solid wins over Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Andrey Rublev. Whilst those two aren't exactly the cream of the crop in Doha, they did represent a decent challenge for the Georgian. The first round encounter was a bit extreme at 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 - this simply reflects that hitting every single ball for the win can have it's downsides.
After winning his first ever ATP title in Beijing in October against Del Potro in the final he Basilashvili struggled to overcome other big opponents including towards the end of the year including falling to Kevin Anderson twice in two weeks. On both those occasions he did claim a set off the South African but struggled to deal with his serving prowess.
2019's challenge for Basilashvili will be to record a brace of wins against top 10 opponents to show last years Beijing title was not just a one off. For him there will be no greater task than tonight's match against the World Number one and it will take more than his unflinching style to defeat Djokovic - he will need a high first serve percentage and a low unforced error count throughout which is asking alot given his approach to the game. But with Djokovic showing some vulnerability vs Fucsovics yesterday it is possible he can do it. His odds are very high - 10.00 for the upset.
Prediction: As much as I would love to see a Wawrinka vs Djokovic final I am going for the upset here with an outright win for Basilashvili (1%) at 10.00. The Georgian has the capabilities to hit through Djokovic. I will also be taking Basilashvili at +5.5 Game handicap at odds of 1.90.
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