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Please note that Jannik Sinner will not play in this tournament and he ahs been replaced by Mairn Cilic is a seeded player.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Please note that Jannik Sinner will not play in this tournament and he has been replaced by Mairn Cilic as a seeded player.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.
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.