It is quarter final day at the cinch Championships on Friday with all four matches being played out on what is expected to be the hottest day of the week both temperature wise at the Queens Club and quality of action.
The shocks have been coming thick and fast all week and as a result of that we only have two seeded players left in the draw. They’ll both be wanting to make it into the semi-finals but will be made to work hard to get there.
Jordan Thompson vs Taylor Fritz
The opening match of the quarter finals sees the man who is becoming a grass court specialist in Jordan Thompson taking on the highest ranked player left in the draw in the form of the American player Taylor Fritz.
Fritz has largely cruised into this quarter final having won both of his matches in straight sets but he was forced to save set points in the opening set of his second round clash with Milos Raonic before coming through comfortably enough in the end. Thompson has only really played one match this week which was a tight tussle with Holger Rune because his second round opponent Andy Murray pulled out after five games. I liked what I saw from Thompson against Rune but he was helped out towards the end of that match by the Dane. Fritz has twice won at Eastbourne so we shouldn’t write him off on this surface so I’ll leave this opening match well alone.
Billy Harris vs Lorenzo Musetti
The second of the quarter finals sees one of the two remaining British players taking to the court when Billy Harris plays in the biggest match of his career against the Italian ace Loranzo Musetti, who is looking for a first Queens semi-final.
Italian players have a rich history here with Matteo Berrettini having won the tournament twice and Musetti has to be respected on that, albeit he has lived something of a charmed life this week having had to come through a couple of deciding sets to make his way into the last eight. Harris has looked good so far and looks to be getting better with each match that he has played. He will need to improve again here I think it is fair to say but if he can do that he could quickly get the Italian under pressure and Musetti has melted from there a few times. I’m not going to back the Briton here but I can’t trust Musetti either so I’ll give this one a miss.
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Jack Draper vs Tommy Paul
The pick of the quarter finals is the third one onto the court when the Stuttgart champion Jack Draper goes up against a Tommy Paul who is back in the last eight at Queens for the first time since 2022 when he lost to the eventual champion Matteo Berrettini.
It wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility for lightning to strike twice either because should Draper win this match he would be the favourite to follow up his Stuttgart success and win the title here too. These two have met four times in the past and Draper has won on three occasions with the one the Briton lost being in Melbourne at the beginning of the year. Interestingly, when Draper has won he has won in straight sets, winning 64 64, 61 64 and 60 64 so those wins are pretty convincing. Paul has played well enough this week but hasn’t really faced someone who is naturally comfortable on grass like Draper is. Add in the leftie serve and Draper, who beat Frances Tiafoe and Matteo Berrettini last week and Carlos Alcaraz here on Thursday can win without dropping a set.
Seb Korda vs Rinky Hijikata
The last of the quarter finals sees another man who had an extended run in a tournament last week in Seb Korda taking to the court to take on the former Australian Open doubles champion Rinky Hijikata in the second American-Australian clash of the day.
Korda made the final of Hertogenbosch last week and was a semi-finalist here last year and will be looking to match that performance with a win in this quarter final. Hijikata has battled hard to come through to the quarter final but we’ll never know if he would have beaten Frances Tiafoe in the opening round had the American not suffered a tumble which he couldn’t continue after. He battled well against Matteo Arnaldi in the second round but the Italian faded quickly in that. Korda had a real tussle with Grigor Dimitrov in the last round and showed the confidence of a man who has been winning matches on grass this year. There is a feeling that the Australian will be outgunned in this match and that is a theory that I subscribe to but the odds reflect that so I’ll leave this alone.
Tips
Back J.Draper to beat T.Paul 2-0 for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with Betfair
