ATP Finals in Turin, Preliminary Round, Thursday
Tension on Thursday in the Red Group of the ATP Finals in Turin. Alexander Zverev can secure a place in the semi-finals with a win over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.
The bookmakers are convinced that the Olympic champion from Germany will succeed in this, the odds for a victory by Zverev are in the range of 1.3. In the Zverev Hurkacz tip, the prospects of the two opponents will now be examined in more detail.
After his demolition victory (7-6, 1-0 w.o.) over Italy’s Matteo Berrettini on Sunday, Alexander Zverev was again beaten in three sets by his fearful opponent Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday.
This was the fifth time in a row that the German had done so, with the Russian taking a 6-5 lead in the Head-To-Head comparison.
However, it was a very close affair.
Medvedev only prevailed in the tie break of the deciding set 8-6 and is thus an early semi-finalist.
For Zverev, the defeat was annoying, but he was not dissatisfied with the performance and noted that “it’s not over yet”.
He is definitely right about that, as a win over Hurkacz would see him join Medvedev in the semi-finals and keep his hopes alive for his second ATP Finals win.
In 2018, he had celebrated his first success at a major tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Novak Djokovic in the London final.
Zverev has since had to wait for his first win at a Grand Slam tournament, but this year he added another career highlight with his Olympic victory in Tokyo.
First, however, Hubert Hurkacz has to be defeated. He has lost both of his matches so far at this year’s ATP Finals.
Against Daniil Medvedev, he won the first set before losing 7-6, 3-6, 4-6.
After Matteo Berrettini was forced to retire after losing to Zverev, his Italian compatriot Jannik Sinner stepped in. The South Tyrolean made the most of his opportunity and gave Hurkacz no chance on Tuesday evening with a 6-2, 6-2 win.
This means that suddenly even Sinner still has a chance of reaching the semi-finals, but only if Zverev does not win against Hurkacz and if he himself wins against Medvedev, who has already qualified.
But Hubert Hurkacz is not out of the running yet either, despite his defeats in the first two matches. A win over Zverev would also be enough for him to reach the semi-finals – if Sinner does not win against Medvedev in the evening.
Because if Medvedev has three wins at the end, the number of matches played would first be used to determine second place. This would mean that Sinner would be out of the running with only two games played.
With those two players having a record of 1:2, the direct duel would then tip the scales in favour of Hurkacz. But it’s not that far yet.
Zverev already has the chance to remove all further speculation with a win.
Although both players are ranked in the top 10 of the world rankings, they have only met once before.
With those two players having a record of 1:2, the direct duel would then tip the scales in Hurkacz’s favour. But it’s not that far yet.
Zverev already has the chance to remove all further speculation with a win.
Although both players are ranked in the top 10 of the world rankings, they have only met once so far.
2019, the now 24-year-old Zverev won 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 against his opponent, who is two months older, at the ATP tournament in Madrid.
The few encounters are probably also due to the fact that Hurkacz only made his absolute breakthrough this year. Three of his four tournament victories so far came in 2021 (Delray Beach, Miami Open, Moselle Open).
In the final of the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami, Hurkacz won in two sets against Jannik Sinner, but in Turin he went down without a sound against the same opponent.
But it’s a different game against Zverev now and the Pole will probably do everything he can to make the most of his chance to reach the semi-finals.
On the other hand, Zverev was quite convincing in the match against Medvedev despite the narrow defeat. If you take Tuesday’s performance as a yardstick, the German should be the clear winner.
The bookmakers also see it that way, which is why the odds for a win are very manageable.
Therefore, alternative betting variants are offered, for example, at various betting providers such as Bet365 you can also bet on how many sets will be played. The betting odds are correspondingly higher here.
My tip is therefore: Alexander Zverev wins in 2 sets against Hubert Hurkacz!
