It is the final day of group matches at the ATP World Tour Finals inside the o2 Arena on Friday with the remaining semi-final spots up for grabs on what should be a dramatic, exciting and top class day of tennis at the last tournament of the year.
Roger Federer made it through to the knockout stages on Thursday evening and now that he is there he will find out who he will face over the course of Friday. There is one doubles spot up for grabs as well on what looks like an exciting day.
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Afternoon Session
Oliver Marach & Mate Pavic vs Lukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo
The opening match of the day sees the European top seeded pairing of Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic looking to round a wonderful year off by making it through to the semi-finals when they take on former number one pairing of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
It hasn’t been the tournament that the Polish-Brazilian pairing would have wanted so far but a straight sets win will keep them alive until the evening although the best chance of qualifying goes to Marach and Pavic and if they can win in straight sets they will really put the pressure on the French pair later in the evening. The odds look about right here though.
Alexander Zverev vs John Isner
The first singles match of the day sees two men looking to enhance their chance of making it into the semi-final when Alexander Zverev takes on John Isner in a match which is likely to be a battle of the serve as so many in this group have been.
Zverev knows he is through if he wins this in straight sets but although Isner has lost his opening two matches he will have a chance of going through if he wins this one in straight sets and Cilic loses in straight sets later in the night.
I don’t think we’re going to see anything too surprising here. Breaks of serve are going to be at a premium here and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see two tiebreaks here if not three. Isner has run into a couple of insane returning performances so far in the tournament but I don’t see Zverev offering such quality off the Isner first strike. Over 25.5 games should land here.
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Evening Session
Mike Bryan & Jack Sock vs Nicolas Mahut & Pierre-Hugues Herbert
The last doubles match of the round robin phase sees the pair who must be the tournament favourites from here on in taking on an extremely dangerous pair as Mike Bryan and Jack Sock go up against Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
The American pair need a set to guarantee their qualification while the French duo need to better the result of the Marach and Pavic pair from earlier in the day if they are going to make it into the semi-final. Bryan and Sock have looked so hard to beat this week and I think they will win here but the dynamic changes for them when they win a set and I hate betting on that basis so I’ll be leaving this week alone.
Novak Djokovic vs Marin Cilic
Novak Djokovic is into the semi-final and he will attempt to win his group on Friday night when he takes on a Marin Cilic who will be watching the afternoon match carefully to know if he has a chance of progressing.
If Zverev loses earlier in the day when Cilic knows he will qualify with a win but he might only need a set to make it through. The interesting thing here will be how hard Djokovic goes at this. He will play a semi-final 24hrs after this match against a player who won’t have seen the tennis court on Friday so it might be that he keeps something in reserve.
Cilic doesn’t have the worst record against Djokovic in recent times. He has won two of their last four meetings and won a set in the two defeats in that time including in Paris a couple of weeks ago. That makes me think we might get a lengthy match here so over 20.5 games is the way forward in this one.
Tips
Back A.Zverev vs J.Isner – Over 25.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
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WON – Back N.Djokovic vs M.Cilic – Over 20.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
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