The cream of the Tennis World players are at Nur-Sultan this week and very striong competition is evident,  

ATP 500 NUR-SULTAN

ROUND 2

Top Half of the Draw

David Goffin                                    vs      Adrian Mannarino

5    Andrey Rublev                           vs       Zhinhen Zhang

3   Stefanos Tsitsipas                       vs       Luca Nardi

7    Hubert Hurkacz                         vs        Alexander Bublik

Bottom Half of the Draw

9    Marin Cilic                                  vs      Karen Khachanov

4    Novak Djokovic                           vs     Botic van der Zandschulp

Roberto Bautista-Agut                        vs      Pavel Kotov

2    Danill Medvedev                          vs      Emil Ruusuvuori

This is going to be a hell of a difficult tournament to win.   If one look at Djokovic - he will face -

*      Garin in Round 1;

*      Van de Zandschulp in Round 2;

*      potentially Cilic or Khachanov in the quarterfinals and

*      potentially Medvedev in the semi-finals.   

A very difficult series of matches - unlike what he faced in the Laver  Cup and the Tel Aviv Tournament.   

It is not particularly difficult for Alcaraz - he will face -

*      David Goffin in Round 1;

*      Mannarino  in Round 2; 

*      potentially Rublev in the quarterfinals;

*      potentially Tsitsipas in the semifinal.    

Please note that Jannik Sinner will not play in this tournament and he ahs been replaced by Mairn Cilic is a seeded player.    That resulted in a revision of the draw as indicated above.  

Please note that Jannik Sinner will not play in this tournament and he has been replaced by Mairn Cilic as a seeded player.    That resulted in a revision of the draw as indicated above.  Rune also withdrew after losing to Huesler and Alcaraz will now play Goffin - a qualification  Lucky Loser - instead.   

 Auger-Aliassime has not helped his candidacy to play in the EOYT by losing in Round 1 in this tournament  

I criticized  Ruud for losing against the number 58th ranked player in the world - so what abut the loss of Alcaraz in Round 1 of the Nur-Sultan tournament losing to Goffin - the 66th ranked player in the World,      He was anytime as atrocious as Ruud was in the game and his serving was atrocious while his attacking shots were inaccurate.    I think over-confidence and lack of application cost him the match.   

His lost has opened the way for Rublev to go through to the semi-final - so lets wait and see what happens in the next wo rounds.     

I criticized  Ruud for losing against the number 58th ranked player in the world - so what abut the loss of Alcaraz in Round 1 of the Nur-Sultan tournament losing to Goffin - the 66th ranked player in the World,      He was anytime as atrocious as Ruud was in the game and his serving was atrocious while his attacking shots were inaccurate.    I think over-confidence and lack of application cost him the match.   

His lost has opened the way for Rublev to go through to the semi-final - so lets wait and see what happens in the next wo rounds.     

ATP 500 NUR-SULTAN

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

5    Andrey Rublev                             vs       Adrian Mannarino

3   Stefanos Tsitsipas                         vs       7    Hubert Hurkacz

Bottom Half of the Draw

4    Novak Djokovic                          vs        Karen Khachanov

2    Danill Medvedev                        vs        Roberto Bautista-Agut   

I was particularly impressed with the 19 year-old Luca Nardi -  an Italian - who took  Tsitsipas to two tie-breakers in the Round 1 match they played.  Looks a promising prospect and hope to see him in the Generation Finals next month.  

ATP 500 NUR-SULTAN

SEMIFINALS

3   Stefanos Tsitsipas/              vs       5    Andrey Rublev

2    Danill Medvedev               vs       4    Novak Djokovic

Who will Rublev play in the semifinal?   He has beaten both Tsistipas and Hurkacz in the past - so the opponent will have to play extremely well to beat Rublev.   He has beaten all his three opponents in this tournament easily.    

ATP 500 - NUR SULTAN

FINAL

4      Novak Djokovic                 vs         3      Stefnos Tsitsipas

I am not even th inking about who will be in the final.   Medvedev had the most difficult opponent and he was the easiest winner = winning 6-1,6-1 on the quarters,    Rublev won 6-1, 6-2.   Djokovic beat Kachnov 6,4, 6-3 - a bit more difficult match to win and Tsitsipas struggled quite a bit to beat Hurkacz.   

The Bookmakers do not know what will happen in the Tsitsipas Rublev match - the odds are now as follows:-

Tsitsipas       1,78

Rublev         2,0   

The odds on the Medvedev - Djokovic is not out yet,        1

Djokovic got lucky as a result of an injury to Medvedev.    He lost the firsts et and in the secnd there was an injury to Medvedev - that caused the withdrawal of Medvedev at the end of the tiie-breaker.

Be it as it may he beat Tsitsipas comprehensively in the final and congrats to him on winning.