ATP Tournament in Halle, Quarter Finals, Friday, 23.06.2023
The days are being counted before the gates open in London and fans once again attend Wimbledon full of anticipation! In the weeks before, there is not much time on grass, especially the top stars like Daniil Medvedev want to convince.
Currently playing in Halle, the top-seeded pro knows he is not yet in Wimbledon form. He may be favoured by Bwin and the other bookmakers for his match on Friday, but in my Medvedev Bautista Agut I now reveal why I expect a slightly longer match!
For Daniil Medvedev, the best part of the season began a few days ago. He was allowed to put his clay court shoes aside and enjoy being without the unpleasant surface for a long time.
The Russian doesn’t like the surface at all, and he disappointed all along the line at the French Open. Things were supposed to go better when he finally hit his first serve on grass over the net.
In Hertogenbosch, the improvement in performance was already over after the first match. He lost 6-4, 4-6, 2-6 to Adrian Mannarino and became weaker with every ball change.
In Halle, he has already reached the round of the best eight, with some difficulty. While he won against Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-3, it was much closer in the round of 16 against Laslo Djere.
6-3, 6-7, 6-3, nothing was given to the favourite. Medvedev gave his opponent seven break chances and double-faulted 16 times in both games.
Against Djere, it became clear that his concentration was not yet as good as it should be. Leading 4:1 in the second set, he faced his own serve. But instead of closing out the match, he even surrendered the set.
His consistency is not yet back to the old level, last year’s indoor finalist will have to improve in all aspects. Is it a good or bad omen that he will now meet Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-finals?
This is exactly the opponent he was drawn against in 2022! He prevailed smoothly with a 6-2, 6-4, which is the result Medvedev would like to see this Friday. The direct comparison, however, actually points to the Spaniard with 4:2.
Bautista Agut and Medvedev needed a third set in only one of the six matches, on grass it is 1:1. Quite close conditions, although our betting providers are rather in favour of Medvedev.
He leads with odds of about 1.30 to 3.50, but nothing is lost for Bautista Agut. The 35-year-old had to wait quite a long time before his first opponent in Halle was even known.
Due to some cancellations, the field was shifted and in the end Bautista had to play Andrea Vavassori and won easily 6-3, 6-4. His own service was perfect, his opponent had no chance to break.
A little later, he had to fight a lot harder against Brandon Nakashima and had some difficulties at 7-5, 7-6. This time his rival broke once, but there were no more chances.
For the first time since mid-January, Bautista is back in the quarter-finals, which doesn’t mean that he is in a good mood. It has been five years since the Spaniard reached a semi-final in Halle for the first and last time, so it would be high time again.
My Medvedev Bautista Agut tip
Whether hard court, grass or clay, Danill Medvedev knows that he has been chasing his best form for quite some time with few exceptions. The Russian has already struggled in Halle, too, and the semi-final will not be a walk in the park.
It is very difficult to predict exactly how Roberto Bautista-Agut will be, even for us.
He really likes to play against Medvedev, but he has been waiting for a semi-final for almost half a year. Both have their little problems, so my tip is:
We see more than 22,5 Games!
