The second set of group matches begin in the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday when the players who were on show on Sunday are back on the main court in Turin looking to set themselves up for a place in the knockout stage of the event.
That means that over the course of the day we will see the likes of Rafael Nadal looking to pick up a first win of the week while in the doubles competition Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will be out to book a place in the last four.
Day Session
Marcelo Arevalo & Jean-Julien Rojer vs Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos
The opening match of the day sees the losing pairs in the doubles on Sunday battling it out to potentially keep their hopes alive of making it through to the semi-finals when the French Open winning pair of Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer take on the former semi-finalists in this event in Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
Both pairs went down in their opening matches in what were tight tussles in which they came out on the wrong side of the fine margins and you would imagine that not much will change here. I thought that Arevalo and Rojer played better in their opening match even though Granollers and Zeballos got closer on the scoreboard and as French Open champions they look the better of the two teams. I always feel that Granollers and Zeballos take advantage if they are allowed to hang around but in these conditions I think the more aggressive nature of the number three seeds give them the edge but not enough of one to get involved.
Rafael Nadal vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
The singles match in the afternoon session also sees the two losing players from Sunday on show when the Australian Open and French Open champion from earlier in the season, Rafael Nadal, goes up against the debutant Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Nadal was blown away by Taylor Fritz in his opening match and the margin of that defeat was such that he really needs to not just come out on top here but could do with doing so by a decent amount. Auger-Aliassime was involved in a tighter match against Casper Ruud on Sunday but he still went down in straight sets and needs a good win here to get his maiden tour finals campaign back on track. Nadal didn’t look comfortable in the conditions on Sunday but with a day of practice behind him I suspect we’ll see a much better performance from him here. Auger-Aliassime probably has nothing to lose now though and that makes him dangerous. I wouldn’t want to oppose Nadal but I’m in no rush to be on him either.
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Night Session
Rajeev Ram & Joe Salisbury vs Lloyd Glasspool & Harri Heliovaara
The night session doubles match will see two Brits on opposite sides of the net as the number two seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury go up against surprise winners in the opening round of matches in Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.
The winner of this match will most likely book their spot into the semi-finals, particularly if it is the lower seeds given that they were straight sets winners in their opening game, so there is plenty of incentive for both pairings going into this one. Clearly Ram and Salisbury are the better pairing both in the tournaments they have won and in terms of experience on stages like this but Glasspool and Heliovaara served brilliantly in their first game and returned well and if they have a similar level of performance with them here they could certainly cause the upset. I fancy this will be tighter than the odds suggest but it is hard to go against Ram and Salisbury.
Casper Ruud vs Taylor Fritz
The final match of the third day of action sees the two singles winners from Sunday battling it out when the French Open and US Open finalist Casper Ruud takes on the Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz with the winner almost certain of making it into the semi-final.
Both men were straight sets winners in their opening game so any win here will give them one foot into the semi-final and both should they win in straight sets. Fritz’s win was more eye catching both because it was against Rafael Nadal and also because it was more emphatic than the one Ruud had over Felix Auger-Aliassime. That doesn’t mean that Ruud wasn’t good enough in his own right but there was something a little more appealing about the Fritz win, although how much of that was down to Nadal struggling in the conditions we’ll only truly know as this one plays out. Fritz is a decent player but I think Ruud is the better of the two and I’m surprised the Norwegian is the outsider here. He has beaten many a big server and when these two get into rallies I think Ruud will have the edge so at the prices I’m happy to take the man who has made two Grand Slam finals this year to come out on top.
Tips
Back C.Ruud to beat T.Fritz for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
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