It is quarter final day at the Rothesay International at the ATP Eastbourne event on Thursday when all four matches get played across the two main courts at Devonshire Park on a day where the final four will be determined.
Two of the four main seeds bit the dust at the earliest opportunity on Wednesday so the two that are left will be wary of being the victim of another upset. There could be three British players in action on Thursday so there is a lot to look forward to.
Centre Court
Cameron Norrie vs Maxime Cressy
The opening quarter final of the two on the main court sees the number one seed and top ranked British player Cameron Norrie going up against Maxime Cressy who will be eyeing up a first ATP Tour semi-final with a win here.
I think it is fair to expect a close and lengthy battle here. Cressy serves big and isn’t going to concede many points on serve while Norrie has enough variety in his serve to keep the American on his toes and guessing too. Whether that means we go into a third set or not I’m not sure. I’ve got to think Norrie will have the tools to get the job done here but he hasn’t exactly flown at his best at any stage in this grass court swing so far so it won’t be a seismic shock if Cressy, who has a great game for grass, delivers the upset. I wanted to get on the game overs here but the line is fully reflective of the two game styles here so I’ll leave it.
Alex de Minaur vs Tommy Paul
The other quarter final on the Centre Court sees the defending champion Alex de Minaur continuing his title defence when he takes on a Tommy Paul who has had a couple of good wins in the tournament to reach the last eight.
Paul saw off Jannik Sinner in the previous round which was certainly an appealing result even if the Italian was coming back from injury and isn’t brilliant on grass. De Minaur is very much good on grass though and I expect him to show that in this match and come through it. Paul got a little fortunate that Sinner dropped his serve a couple of times in the second round. I didn’t really see a grass court game from him. He hardly ever came to the net and that wasn’t good. De Minaur took care of Lorenzo Sonego in the previous round and should be too good for Paul but the odds reflect that too so I’ll leave this one alone.
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Court 1
Alexander Bublik vs Taylor Fritz
The other court where quarter finals are being played is Court 1 and the first one on there sees Alexander Bublik taking on the champion of 2019 in the form of the Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz in what could be a good match.
Fritz is just working his way back from injury and that is certainly showing because his movement has been very patchy both at Queens last week and here and that is a concern. I think Fritz is the better player of the two when all things are equal, although the head-to-head between the pair doesn’t suggest that. That is because Bublik leads it 3-0 and they were all on a hard court where you’d have fancied Fritz. You wouldn’t fancy him as much on a grass court which he isn’t moving well on, particularly if the forecasted rain arrives during this match and slicks up the court a little bit. Bublik probably isn’t one to be trusted but after throwing the first set away from a dominant position against Frances Tiafoe in the opening round he has won four straight sets and when you couple that with their previous meetings the Kazakh looks worthy of support here.
Jack Draper vs Pedro Martinez/Ryan Peniston
We don’t actually know the identity of the last of the quarter finals because the second round match between Ryan Peniston and Pedro Martinez was hauled off for bad light halfway through the deciding set on Wednesday evening.
We do know that the winner of that set will face Jack Draper who had a brilliant win over Diego Schwartzman on Wednesday and he will be favourite to win this match regardless of which player comes through. He probably isn’t a betting proposition though, particularly as his opponent would have got the competitive juices flowing earlier in the day. We can’t bet on it this far in advance anyway.
Tips
Back A.Bublik to beat T.Fritz for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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