ATP Tournament in Halle, Round of 16, Thursday, 16.06.2022
Will the ATP Tournament in Halle actually have a German winner once again? Admittedly, without Alexander Zverev the chances are not too high, but Germany’s number 2 is about to change that!
Oscar Otte is in great form and has already made it to the semi-finals twice in 2022. In the meantime, he has also sent much higher-ranked opponents home. It’s time to bring this form onto the court in Halle.
If he isn’t a worthy substitute for the injured Alexander Zverev! Oscar Otte, soon to be at home in the world’s top 50, seems to be entering the best phase of his career so far in his late 20s.
He already reached the semi-finals in Munich, where he narrowly lost out to shooting star Holger Rune. A few days ago in Stuttgart, he could almost have gone one better. Once again he made it to the top four, and with very special results.
Otte beat Daniel Altmaier and Denis Shapovalov both 7-6, 7-6 before facing Matteo Berrettini. Here, unfortunately, the tables were turned and this match went to the Italian in two tiebreaks.
Otte’s service game is excellent, he doesn’t even let the best break against him at the moment. In Halle, where he is playing for the first time, he started off with a relatively smooth win by his standards.
He won 7-6, 6-4 against Miomir Kecmanovic, who was the favourite. Of course, a tiebreak is the only way to end a match. Only 52% of his first serve was successful, which is surprisingly low.
On the other hand, he only let his opponent break once and won 86% of the points on serve number 1. In front of a home crowd, Otte’s form seems to be on the rise again.
In the meantime, he is even enough to be the favourite in the round of 16. Although his upcoming opponent, Nikolos Bassilashvili, is clearly ahead of him with a ranking of 25, the bookmakers tend to see the German in front.
But Bassilashvili doesn’t have to worry about that, because even before his first round in Halle hardly anyone believed in the Georgian. He had a tough draw with Andrey Rublev, which he surprisingly survived.
A year ago he had lost in the semi-finals to exactly the same opponent, this time Bassilashvili prevailed, and clearly! He won 7-6, 6-4 and won 81% of the points on his first serve.
Values that are quite similar to those of Oscar Otte. But has Bassilashvili been as good as the German for weeks? Since the Qatar Open in mid-February, where he lost the final in the end, he has not managed to win two matches in a tournament!
That alone shows why he has to play in the role of the underdog on Thursday. By the way, the Georgian has never met Otte before, so the round of 16 will be a premiere for him.
My Bassilashvili Otte tip
The 28-year-old is keeping his form, impressing with a bearish serve.
Most of his matches involve a tiebreak, something I also noticed with Nikolos Bassilashvili in my analysis. The Georgian also serves very well and also progressed in a tiebreak against Andrey Rublev. That only leaves me with the following tip:
We’ll see at least a 7-6!
