The last day of singles action at the ATP World Tour Finals takes place on Friday with the semi-final line up to be finalised inside the o2 on what promises to be yet another amazing day of tennis in the final event of the campaign.
We saw Roger Federer take out Novak Djokovic on Thursday night and all eyes will be on Rafael Nadal on Friday to see if he can make it through safely enough or if he is going to be another shock casualty.
Afternoon Session
Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robbie Farah vs Kevin Krawietz & Andreas Mies
The opening match of the day sees the highest two teams in the group doing battle to give themselves a shot at making the semi-finals when Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robbie Farah take on Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.
It is fair to say that the Colombian pairing haven’t hit their straps in this tournament yet and have lost both their matches. They need to win this match in straight sets and then hope they are done a favour later in the night in order to progress while the Germans are in a much better shape. They are not definitely through with a win but it will take something special to knock them out, especially if they can find a straight sets victory. This one could go either way. The Germans are probably a big price based on what we’ve seen this week but the Colombians are not the best team in the world for no reason so I’ll leave this one alone.
Rafael Nadal vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
All eyes will be on Rafael Nadal in the afternoon singles to see if he can give himself the best chance of making it into the semi-finals when he takes on the Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas who himself needs a set to be assured of a spot in the last four.
These two have met on five previous occasions with Nadal coming out on top in four of them, including in their biggest meeting in the semi-final of the Australian Open at the start of the campaign, a match which was one-sided but Tsitsipas had undergone a few tricky matches which caught up with him. The Greek ace has won both of his matches in straight sets though so he’s in good nick while Nadal has a loss and an incredible win to his name.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nadal comes through this but there is no doubt that the better of the two men this week has been Tsitsipas and he looks to have the confidence to take it to the Spaniard. I think the best bet in this encounter is to take over 22.5 games. If we don’t get a third set we should get two close sets but I see this one going on a similar line to Nadal’s match with Medvedev which should see the over land.
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Evening Session
Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecau vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut
The last of the group games in the doubles sees two of the better teams in the tournament going at it when Jean-Julien Rojer and his partner Horia Tecau take on the French pairing of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.
The French pair have won both of their matches and done so in straight sets thus far and they are pretty warm order for this match. The likelihood is that they are through to the semi-final and it could be that they are confirmed semi-finalists before they take to the court for this match which makes backing them hard. Rojer and Tecau played nicely in the last match and that sort of form makes them dangerous here but I don’t really want to take the French acts on so I’ll sit this one out.
Daniil Medvedev vs Alexander Zverev
Two of the next generation meet in the last of the singles matches in the group stage on Friday night when the US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev takes on the defending champion Alexander Zverev in a match which will be important for Zverev and possibly both men.
If Tsitsipas wins in the afternoon then any Zverev win here sends him into the semi-final where Dominic Thiem will be waiting for him. Were Nadal to lose Medvedev could also go through with a big win. If Nadal wins earlier in the day Zverev would need to win to have a chance of going through while Medvedev would be out before he even takes to the court.
I think this match is all about Zverev. You can look at the head-to-head and see that Medvedev wiped the German out in their last meeting but Zverev had won the four matches prior to that but why I like Zverev here is the meltdown Medvedev suffered on Wednesday when he surrendered a 5-1 third set lead to Rafael Nadal. You don’t get over that overnight so the Russian needs to be opposed, especially if he is already out. Zverev showed excellent form in his first match and a repeat of that gets it done here I believe.
Tips
WON – Back R.Nadal vs S.Tsitsipas – Over 22.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
Back it here:
WON – Back A.Zverev to beat D.Medvedev for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betway
Back him here:
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