We have reached the knockout stages of the ATP World Tour Finals with the four singles and doubles semi-finals taking play over the course of a mouth-watering schedule inside the o2 Arena throughout Saturday.
Three rising stars and the greatest of them all make up the singles draw while four classy doubles teams will take to the court over the course of the day, all with the aim of booking their place in the final on Sunday.
Afternoon Session
Raven Klaasen & Michael Venus vs Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robbie Farah
The opening match of a tantalising day of tennis inside the o2 Arena sees the world number one team of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robbie Farah taking on the surprise packages of the competition in Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus for a spot in the final.
The Colombian pairing rode their luck to make it into this semi-final but now they are here they will be hoping that their class comes to the fore and they make it through to the final on Sunday. Klaasen and Venus have looked much the better of the pairs but whether that will count for anything here I’m not so sure. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a match tiebreak here but calling the winner I’m not sure about.
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Roger Federer
The first singles match of the day is a battle of the best of the young brigade, last season’s Next Gen Finals winner Stefanos Tsitsipas against the best there has ever been in the form of Roger Federer with a place in the season ending final the reward for the winner.
The Greek star has been exceptional this week and is more than capable of winning this one. The question mark over him is how heavy his legs could be as he went almost three hours with Rafael Nadal on Friday afternoon and hasn’t had much recovery time. Federer was brilliant in what was a knockout match against Novak Djokovic on Thursday night but you could see what the win meant to him and often we see even the greatest players struggling to back up such an emotional victory.
I would have been happy to back Tsitsipas here had he not had that marathon match on Friday. Federer looks plenty short enough to me though. If he can back up his performance against Djokovic he’ll probably win this but I’m not convinced he will be able to. I’ll leave this alone too.
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Evening Session
Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut vs Lukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo
The evening session kicks off with the pick of the two semi-finals on paper as the recent Paris Masters champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut takes on the team who have been one of the best in the world over the last two seasons in Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
This hasn’t been the best year for Kubot and Melo, although they have looked solid enough here but the French pair look on a different level to anything we’ve seen so far this week as they set about going one better than they did last year when they were beaten in the final. Herbert and Mahut are understandably plenty short enough to win this semi-final but I can’t see past them. This is doubles though and it is quirky so I’m not chasing a short price.
Dominic Thiem vs Alexander Zverev
The last semi-final of the day might just be the closest one of the four to call as Dominic Thiem takes on Alexander Zverev for a place in the final on Sunday, with both men looking to finish off the season with a title.
Thiem has been brilliant in this tournament although he was a bit sloppy against Matteo Berrettini last time out and that is a concern. He was already through and suffering with a cold so we should make those excuses for him but even so he would have liked to have been better. Alexander Zverev has played two fantastic matches this week but openly admitted he lost his way in the middle game against a Tsitsipas, who to be fair has been great all week.
I’m already on Zverev at 6/1 for this match having taken him outright before it began so I’m not going to back the German again even though I like him here. Both men have served brilliantly this week so I don’t expect much quarter to be given. Their two hard meetings have both gone to a deciding set and I would be surprised if this doesn’t as well. If it doesn’t I expect two close sets so over 22.5 games does for me here.
Tips
Back D.Thiem vs A.Zverev – Over 22.5 games for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
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