Dubai Open, Mexican Open and Santiago Open

DUBAI OPEN

ROUND 2

Top Half of the Draw

1     Novak Djokovic                                          vs      Tallon Griekspoor

5     Hubert Hurkacz                                            vs       Pavel Kotov

3     Danill Medvedev                                          vs       Alexander Bublik

8    Borna Coric                                                   vs       Thanasi Kokkinakis

Bottom Half of the Draw

7    Alexander Zverev                                         vs        Christopher O'Connell

4    Felix Auger-Aliassime                                  vs        Lorenzo Sonego

Botic van de Zandschulp                                    vs        Mikhael Ymer

2    Andrey Rublev                                              vs        Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 

MEXICAN OPEN

ROUND 2

Top Half of the Draw

Mackenzie McDonald                                      vs       Brandon Nakashima

7   Tommy Paul                                                 vs       Michael Mmoh

3    Taylor Fritz                                                 vs       Denis Shapovalov

6    Frances Tiafoe                                            vs        Feliciano Lopez 

Bottom Half of the Draw

Matteo Berrettini                                               vs       Emil Ymer

4    Holger Rune                                                vs      Nuno Borges

8    Alex de Minaur                                            vs       Jacopo Berrettini                        

2    Casper Ruud                                                 vs      Taro Daniel

SANTIAGO OPEN

ROUND 2

Top Half of the Draw

1     Lorenzo Musetti                                       vs        Jaume Munar

Thiago Monteiro                                              vs       Marco Cecchinato

4     Diego Schwartzman                                  vs      Nicolas Jarry

Roberto Carballes Baena                                 vs       Yannick Hanfmann

Bottom Half of the Draw

6    Laslo Djere                                               vs       Riccardo Bonadio

3    Sebastian Baez                                         vs       Christopher Garin

Juan-Manual Cerundolo                                vs       Dusan Lajovic

2   Francisco Cerundolo                                vs        Tomas-Martin Etcheverry 

Two APT 500 tournaments this week - to be followed by 2 APT 1000 masters tournaments in the succeeding two weeks.   In fact the 2 ATP 500 series this week could affect the number 1 rating position.    If  Alcaraz win the final today and the Mexican Open this week - he will go into the number 1 position - irrespective of whether Djokmovic win in Dubai or not.   

Apparently the imbecilic Biden regulations is still preventing Djkokovic to play in the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments -  but that could impact on Alcaraz rating since he was a semifinalist in Indian Wells and won in Miami in 2022.

DUBAI OPEN

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

1     Novak Djokovic                                     vs       5     Hubert Hurkacz

3     Danill Medvedev                                    vs        8      Borna Coric

Bottom Half of the Draw

7     Alexander Zverev                                   vs       Lorenzo Sonego

2     Andrey Rublev                                       vs       Botic van de Zandschulp

MEXICAN OPEN

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

7   Tommy Paul                                 vs          Mackenzie McDonald

3    Taylor Fritz                                  vs         6    Frances Tiafoe 

Bottom Half of the Draw

4    Holger Rune                                vs         Matteo Berrettini

8    Alex de Minaur                           vs         Taro Daniel       

SANTIAGO  OPEN

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

Jaume Munar                                      vs          Thiago Monteiro

Nicolas Jarry                                       vs          Yannick Hanfmann

Bottom Half of the Draw

3    Sebastian Baez                             vs            6    Laslo Djere

Tomas-Martin Etcheverry                  vs           Dusan Lajovic 

DUBAI OPEN

SEMIFINALS

1     Novak Djokovic                                 vs    3     Danill Medvedev

2     Andrey Rublev                                   vs    7     Alexander Zverev

MEXICAN OPEN

SEMIFINALS

3    Taylor Fritz                                          vs     7    Tommy Paul

 4    Holger Rune                                       vs     8     Alex de Minaur      

SANTIAGO OPEN

SEMIFINALS

3    Sebastian Baez                                    vs       Tomas-Martin Etcheverry 

Nicolas Jarry                                            vs        Jaume Munar 

DUBAI OPEN

FINAL

2     Andrey Rublev                               vs        3     Danill Medvedev  

MEXICAN OPEN

FINAL

7    Tommy Paul                                     vs        8     Alex de Minaur 

SANTIAGO OPEN

FINAL

Tomas-Martin Etcheverry                      vs        Nicolas Jarry  

There is not a single seeded player left to play in the final in this tournament.   

Dubai Open

It would be a miracle if Medvedev beats Djokovic in the semi-final.   What must be borne in mind that if Medvedev goes through to the final and win that as well - since it would be his third tournament win in 3 succeeding tournaments in consecutive weeks,   Extremely rare for that to happen.   

The other semifinal is between Rublev and Zverev.  The latter is for the first time showing real progress in his come-back from his serious injury.   Rublev has never beaten Zverev before and the bookmakers makes him the favorite to beat Rublev.   Rublev can be brilliant in one match and disastrous in the next.   He played two good matches in Dubai - where he is the trophy holder after winning the tournament last year.   His thrid match he should never have won - hid opponent had 5 match points in that match.    Rublev since November 2022 won three matches he should have lost against all of Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Davidovich Fokina - they had a total of 11 match points against him - yet he won the matches.      He is totally unpredictable. 

Mexican Open

The whole tournament was gutted by the withdrawal of Alcaraz and Norrie - as well as the loss of Ruud in Round 1 of the tournament - in other words the tournament lost its 1 and 2 seeded players in the tournament.  and also Norrie.   Competition was weakened and the level of tennis played was not good enough.

It is indeed a pity that Berrettini has gone backwards from being in the top 10 rankings in the world to where he is now and the rankings will soon be out of the Top 30 players in the world all due to injury.   Nadal won in this tournament last year - but was out with injury and will miss the upcoming Indian Wells tournament as well.    So he will be out of the top 10 ranked players next week.   

I was impressed by Holger Rune thus far this year.   After a year in which he retired injured from tournaments regularly or lost matches as a result - he seems to be over the injury headaches he suffered from.    Unlike Mozart who rejoice it when injury effects sportsmen he does not like - I hope for the opposite.     I do like Rune as a player and hope the best for him in this tournament and for his future career.

Santiago Open 

6 of the 8 seeded players are gone from the tournament and the seventh one would be gone today during the Semi-final stage when the remaining seeded pl ayers play each other.   The only two players who showed some good results in this tournament are both from Serbia - Djere and Lajovic.   They could even be in the final playing each other.   

.               

So the Russians had near total control in the case of Dubai tennis.   Even  Zverev is a Russian  his family left Russia after his brother Mischa was borne and before Sascha was borne.  His home language is Russian and one of his closest friends is Rublev.   Even Rublev calls him his elder brother.    

So the final is going to be between Rublev and Medvedev - both have residences in Moscow and in Monaco thus avoiding paying taxes to Russia  other than on the salary they get from Russia  Tennis.    There is a very close friendship relationship between Medvedev, Rublev and Zverev anyway.    Another close friend of the three is Khachanov - he was at every match Rublev played in this  series and was overjoyed by each win.

In 2020 Rublev in succeeding weeks won three ATP titles in Berlin. St Petersburg and Vienna - all three being  ATP 500 titles,   That is very rare and Medvedev is now in the same situation if he wins in Dubai - after winning in Rotterdam, and  Qatar.    After watching the performance of Rublev in the semi - I have a distinct feeling that he will win the final if he performs to the level he did today.  

Insofar as matches is concerned I mention that the Mexian Open is concerned  I wrote elsewhere that the Tournament had been gutted  by the absence of  Alcaraz and Norrie- as well as Ruud losing his first round match,       So the finalists turned out to be the number 7 and 8 seeds.    Not up to the Dubai tennis level played.

Tournament winner Results

Dubai Open                -             Danill Medvedev

Mexican Open            -             Alex de Minaur

Santiago Open            -             Nicolas Jarry

Congrats to all  three winners - Medvedev in particular winning three tournaments in three succeeding weeks - a rare occurrence in the sport of tennis.