Croatian Tennis

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Andy Murray Looks To Find Form @ATPShenzhenOpen 2018

Posted by Admin on September 24, 2018
Posted in: ATP, Shenzen, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Andy Murray Looks To Find Form at the 2018 Shenzhen Open ATP 250
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

The ATP Asian swing features a 250 in Shenzhen, China on hard courts this week, the more notable of the two ATP events in China for the week. Here is your preview with predictions.

Top Half:

David Goffin will be hoping to continue his good form in round 2 against either Andy Murray or Zhizhen Zhang. Goffin should be favored against Murray, but I’ll back the upset, a focused Murray should rise up and knock off Goffin. I’ll also back Murray to get revenge on Fernando Verdasco after Verdasco beat him at the US Open. Verdasco’s both to the quarterfinals is Jason Jung, followed by Taro Daniel/Tatsuma Ito, he’ll be favored in both matches.

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St. Petersburg quarterfinalist Denis Shapovalov should ease past Ilya Ivashka and Yoshihito Nishioka or Denis Kudla in round 2 before running into Borna Coric in a tough quarterfinal match. Coric opens with Di Wu or Cam Norrie, I have him as the favorite to take this section over Shapovalov.

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Bottom Half:

Stefanos Tsitsipas was upset early in his last tournament but I don’t see Dusan Lajovic or Pierre-Hugues Herbert being able to repeat that feat in round 2. This is a weak section, with the winner of Andreas Seppi/Albert Ramos probably favored against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or VIktor Troicki. Tsitsipas over Seppi is my pick here.

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Damir Dzhumur should get past Jiri Vesely/Ramkumar Ramanathan before facing off with Alex De Minaur in the quarters. The young Aussie opens with Yuichi Sugita, Mackenzie McDonald or Lukas Lacko are set to follow. De Minaur will be the favorite against Dzhumur in the quarters and has a real shot at this title.

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Predictions

Semis
Coric d. Murray
De Minaur d. Tsitsipas

Final
Coric d. De Minaur

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Rising Marco Cecchinato the Star of @croatiaopenumag

Posted by Admin on July 15, 2018
Posted in: ATP, Steen Kirby, Umag. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Rising Marco Cecchinato the Star of ATP Umag
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

Despite losing the World Cup final in Moscow, the fun loving nation of Croatia is ready to host another edition of the ATP Umag 250 on clay. Here is your look at all the action.

Top Half:

With the withdrawal of top seed Kyle Edmund, Albert Ramos will start in a reseeded position against Dusan Lajovic or Nikoloz Basilashvili. On clay I’ll back Ramos to edge Lajovic and reach the quarters. Guido Pella should be favored to defeat Taro Daniel, and Aljaz Bedene/Joao Sousa to reach the quarters opposite Ramos, with Ramos favored at that stage.

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Andrey Rublev, the defending champ, is hoping to be fit as he returns to tour after a few weeks off due to injury. Rublev will face a qualifier or Felix Auger Aliassime, with Robin Haase, Nicolas Jarry, or a qualifier lurking in the quarters. I’ll pick a qualifier against Jarry in this section, with the Chilean Jarry emerging the winner, Rublev will likely have a slow return.

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Bottom Half:

The bottom half features a relatively pedestrian (on clay) Damir Dzumhur facing either a struggling Paolo Lorenzi or journeyman Evgeny Donskoy. I’ll take Dzumhur to win the section and emerge opposite Marton Fucsovics or Benoit Paire. I have Fucsovics winning the quarter with wins over Paire and a qualifier, then Dzumhur.

Pablo Cuevas has played himself back into a bit of form and will open against Laslo Djere, presuming he can defeat the in-form Djere, he’ll face Max Marterer or wild card Nino Serdarusic in round 2. Marterer should win the section and end up opposite Marco Cecchinato in the quarters. The rising Cecchinato will be favored over Jiri Vesely/qualifier, and then Marterer in the quarters.

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Predictions

Semis
Ramos d. Jarry
Cecchinato d. Fucsovics

Cecchinato looks well positioned to lift this trophy after reaching the top 30, the Roland Garros semifinals, and lifting an ATP title on clay earlier this year.

Final
Cecchinato d. Ramos

Big Weekend for Croatia as Marin Cilic and Borna Coric Score Final Upsets

Posted by Admin on June 25, 2018
Posted in: ATP, Halle, London, Steen Kirby. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Big Weekend for Croatia as Marin Cilic and Borna Coric Score Final Upsets
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Queens

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Marin Cilic defeated Novak Djokovic 5-7 7-6 6-3 to capture the Queens Club title, the result is a big one for Cilic as he won the match despite a steep h2h disadavantage against the Serbian superstar and he came back from a set down to win.

Cilic claimed his first title of 2018 after wins against Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Muller, Sam Querrey, and Nick Kyrgios to reach the final. He dropped sets to Muller and Djokovic but all in all put together a tremendous week on grass against solid competition that suggests he could win the Wimbledon title in a few weeks time.

Djokovic is rounding into form on grass as he blitzed past John Millman, Grigor Dimitrov, Adrian Mannarino, and Jeremy Chardy to reach the final without dropping a set. Alongside Cilic he will have a great chance of winning Wimbledon.

Henri Kontinen and John Peers defeated Murray/Soares in the doubles final.

ATP Halle

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Croatia’s Borna Coric stunned Roger Federer 7-6 3-6 6-2 in Halle to claim his second career ATP title, this time on grass as a massive underdog. Coric didn’t drop a set until the final as he blitzed past Alexander Zverev, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Andreas Seppi, and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Federer struggled while reaching the final, as he was challenged by Aljaz Bedene, Benoit Paire, Matthew Ebden, and Denis Kudla. Coric was his toughest opponent of the tournament and at that point he finally suffered a loss. His first on grass this season.

Kubot/Melo beat the Zverev brothers to win the doubles final.