The group stage of the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals concludes on Friday when the two Red Groups are played out in Turin on the day where the semi-final line-up at the season ending tournament is confirmed across two sessions of play.
We saw plenty of drama and great tennis on Thursday and with semi-final spots on the line on Friday it would be a huge surprise if we don’t get something similar with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev taking to the court.
Day Session
Wesley Koolhof & Neal Skupski vs Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden
The opening match of the day keeps the mathematicians at bay as we have a simple equation that Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski will take on Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden in what is effectively a quarter final as this is a straight knockout clash.
The winner of this match will be the highest seed remaining in the competition after the top seeds bit the dust on Thursday. Koolhof and Skupski are the higher seeds of the two on show here but it is actually Bopanna and Ebden who are the favourites for the match. I guess that is because of the parting of the ways of Koolhof and Skupski after this tournament but I haven’t really seen anything to suggest that they are not looking to go out on a high so I’m tempted by them but the Bopanna serve looked in good working order in the last game so I’ll tentatively leave that one alone.
Carlos Alcaraz vs Daniil Medvedev
The second and third seeds in the singles draw meet in the afternoon session on Friday too when the Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz takes on the former winner of this event Daniil Medvedev in a match which is much bigger for the Spaniard than it is the Russian.
Medvedev is already into the semi-finals courtesy of straight sets wins over Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev and so he is just playing out time here but he can put a dent into the Alcaraz qualifying hopes if he beats him. Alcaraz is through to the semi-final with a win but he would need Andrey Rublev to beat Alexander Zverev to go through should he lose this match so you would imagine the Spaniard will be giving this one his all. He meat Medvedev in the Wimbledon semi-final but Medvedev got revenge in the US Open semi-final. I think we are setup for a treat here. Medvedev isn’t going to sack this off and Alcaraz might be spurred on by a few words from the Russian in the lead up to the tournament. Their US Open clash feels relevant given it was on a hard court and that had a tiebreak first set. Something similar here should see the games line fly over 22.5 because I would be surprised if this one doesn’t end up in a deciding set.
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Night Session
Rajeev Ram & Joe Salisbury vs Rinky Hijikata & Jason Kubler
We have a dead rubber in the evening doubles match as the defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury already know that they will be facing Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the semi-final on Saturday. Before then though they finish their group campaign off against the Australian Open champions Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler.
The Australian pair have been cannon fodder to the two good teams they have played so far this week and I don’t expect anything to change on that front here. I think Ram and Salisbury will be far too good even if they do look to conserve some energy for that semi-final. Hijikata and Kubler just haven’t shown any cohesion at all this week and their patterns of play make it obvious that they are singles players masquerading as a doubles team who had a big tournament at the right time. Ram and Salisbury look in good touch and I expect them to win but the odds are fully reflective of that.
Andrey Rublev vs Alexander Zverev
The last group match of the week could be a dead rubber by the time it comes along. It definitely is that for Andrey Rublev and it might well be for Alexander Zverev too if Carlos Alcaraz has won the day session singles match.
If he hasn’t then this is a quarter final in all but name for the German as a win will send him through to a tasty looking clash with Jannik Sinner in the semi-final on Saturday. Motivation might send Zverev though in this one and if there is anything on it I will definitely look to get on him because Rublev has beaten himself in both matches this week and I can’t see a reason why he’d be particularly at ease with himself with no competitive juices flowing. Rublev does have a good recent record over Zverev though so if the Russian does fancy it then he certainly knows that he can beat his man. We can’t really get too involved in this until we know the outcome of the afternoon game though.
Tips
Back C.Alcaraz vs D.Medvedev – Over 22.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back it here:
