The semi-finals of the cinch Championships will take place at Queens Club on Saturday as four talented young stars battle it out for a place in the final of the ATP 500 event in London which will be played on Sunday.
Three of the four players who have made it to the last four are seeded and the one who isn’t probably would have been had it not been for an injury earlier in the year so we should be in for a great day of tennis.
Alex de Minaur vs Holger Rune
We get underway with the best that Australia and Denmark have to offer as Alex de Minaur goes up against the number two seed Holger Rune in what has all the makings of a cracking opening semi-final of the tournament.
De Minaur has dropped just the one set en route to this semi-final which is one more than the Dane has surrendered so both men look to be in good touch and ready to push for a place in a first Queens final. De Minaur is in a second grass court semi-final in as many seasons after he reached the last four at Eastbourne last year. This will be the first time Rune has been to this stage of a senior grass court event as until this week he hadn’t won a match on the surface. I did think Rune was there for the taking on Friday but every time Lorenzo Musetti got into position to pounce he messed up. I’m not convinced de Minaur will pass up the same opportunities and the player who is much more the comfortable of the two on grass feels like a decent price to win this at even money. I’m sure Rune will want to win the tournament from here but he has largely served his purpose in getting some familiarity with grass ahead of Wimbledon whereas from a ranking standpoint de Minaur will be desperate to maximise his week. In what might be a tight battle I fancy the Aussie to get it done.
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Carlos Alcaraz vs Sebastian Korda
The pick of the semi-finals will be the second one onto the Centre Court on Saturday afternoon when the number one seed Carlos Alcaraz takes on the man who has destroyed the British challenge this week in Sebastian Korda.
Korda has taken care of Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie this week but he faces his toughest test of the tournament so far in Alcaraz, who is looking like he is getting better after a pair of straight sets wins in the last two rounds. To be fair, Jiri Lehecka didn’t really show up against him but Grigor Dimitrov did in the quarter final but he was swatted aside with ease with those showreel shots once again coming to the fore for the Spaniard. This is the first time that Alcaraz comes up with genuine power in his shots this week so it will be interesting to see if he can handle that but on the flip side of that he can probably expose the movement of Korda. I expect Alcaraz to win this but he is a little short should Korda have 30 minutes of clean ball striking. I’ll give this one a watch rather than bet on it.
Tips
Back A.de Minaur to beat H.Rune for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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