We have reached the penultimate day of the ATP Tour season and on Saturday the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals will take place across what looks like a potentially belting day of tennis inside the o2 Arena.
The group stages of the event provided some excellent stuff with tight matches mixed in with some sublime performances and at the end of it we are left with a very juicy semi-final line up with places in Sunday’s final on the line for everyone involved.
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Afternoon Session
Ryan Harrison & Michael Venus vs Marcelo Melo & Lukasz Kubot
The day begins with a cracking looking match between the French Open champions Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus and the world number one pairing of Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot. The Roland Garros winners won all three matches in their group and will be full of confidence. The world number ones qualified with a match to spare but lost their final game which might have an impact on this one.
I’ll be interested to see if Melo and Kubot were affected by Friday night’s loss. If they are they could get taken out but this could go either way. I’m on the Brazilian-Polish pairing for the tournament so I’ll sit back and hope they win rather than betting on the encounter.
Roger Federer vs David Goffin
The first of the two singles semi-finals sees the overwhelming favourite to win the tournament in Roger Federer facing a man in his first outing at this stage of the event in David Goffin for a place in Sunday’s final.
You have to wonder what David Goffin can come up with here. Quite astonishingly he has admitted that he does not know how to beat Roger Federer which is quite frankly ridiculous no matter whether you believe it or not. You don’t say that sort of thing before a huge semi-final!
I don’t think Federer has been at his best in this tournament but he revealed his mindset in one of the fantastic interviews Sky have done this week when he said he has a maximum of six sets left in the season and he can leave it all on the court now. That should see him through and through in straight sets but at 2/5 I’ll let that come in.
Evening Session
Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares vs Henri Kontinen & John Peers
The second doubles semi-final sees the defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers taking on the local lad Jamie Murray and his partner Bruno Soares for a place in the final on Sunday.
Amazingly Murray and Soares won their group with an emphatic win over Kubot and Melo on Friday night while Kontinen and Peers took advantage of a withdrawal in their group to ensure they made it into this match.
Kontinen and Peers have won the last four meetings between these two pairs but they have looked ordinary for much of this tournament. Had they not melted in their opening match Murray and Soares would be through with three wins from three. They have played decent tennis so far and even at 5/6 they set the standard here.
Grigor Dimitrov vs Jack Sock
The final match of Saturday could be the best of the lot to be fair as Grigor Dimitrov who has looked outstanding this week, takes on Jack Sock who is in the form of his life and clearly enjoying every minute of his time at the o2.
Sock leads the head to head between these two 3-1 but all three of their hard court meetings have gone to a deciding set and that is exactly how I expect this one to go too given how well they are playing. Both men have said they like the speed of the court and mentioned how it suits them which is a positive.
I’m already on Dimitrov courtesy of backing him outright this week so I’ll let that ride and go with over 23.5 games as my bet in this match. Their hard court battles have totalled 31, 37 and 31 games so this line looks low.
Tips
Back J.Murray & B.Soares to beat H.Kontinen & J.Peers for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back them here:
WON – Back G.Dimitrov vs J.Sock – Over 23.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
Back it here:
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