We take a look at the selected quarter-final matches from the ATP Tour’s BMW Open (Bavarian International Tennis Championships)taking place on the 3rd of May 2019.
2019 ATP Tour | ATP 250 Series
BMW Open / Bavarian International Tennis Championships
Selected Quarter-Finals – 3 May 2019
Phillip Kohlschreiber (6/10)
vs Matteo Berrettini (5/4)
German metronome Phillip Kohlschreiber has plied his trade as a consummate baseliner for many a year. His single-handed backhand is one of the best in the business and he returns to an event that he has subtly dominated over the years. He is a three-time winner of this event and also three-time runner-up: he reached the final last year and has reached twelve clay-court finals and always presents a threat in these 250 events. He started the year well enough with a semi-final in Auckland. He reached the final 2016 in a commendable run at Indian Wells, beating Novak Djokovic in the process. He then pushed Novak Djokovic to three sets at Monte Carlo. He beat the highly-rated Khachanov last time out in a brutal display of baseline superiority that should leave any potential opponent fairly concerned.
Matteo Berrettini will be looking to emulate the exploits of fellow countryman Cecchinato with that amazing run to the French Open semi-final last year. The youngster has already shown his ability to mix it up on the clay. He won last year’s Swiss Open, beating Roberto Bautista Agut in the final. He then went on to win this year’s Hungarian Open in Budapest. He also won the Phoenix Challenger event. But there is certainly a mercurial quality to the young Italian. He has also lost six opening round matches this year. He has comfortably seen off Istomin and Kudla and will know that Kohlschreiber will present a vastly different challenge at this event.
This will unsurprisingly be the first meeting between these two, with Kohlschreiber the undeniable favourite. But I fancy the German to dominate Berrettini. This surface seems perfectly suited to this surface. It allows him to mix up his baseline play with those characteristic mid-point drop shots. Kohlschreiber to win in straight sets looks good to me.
Guido Pella (12/10)
vs Roberto Bautista Agut (13/20)
This looks to be a blockbuster encounter between two contrasting figures. 28-year-old Argentine Guido Pella is a left-handed clay-court specialist ala, Rafael Nadal. All five of his WTA finals have come on the clay-courts. He actually has court credentials having reached the BMW Open final in 2017. But one look at his form this season and you can see why he is such a dangerous proposition on these surfaces. He lost in the Cordoba Final and then reached the Argentinean semis. He then went on to win the title in Sao Paulo. Back-to-back quarter-finals in Barcelona and Monte Carlo indicate that he is so close to making an even bigger breakthrough on tour. He has struggled to replicate that form on the harder surfaces and will need to expand on that in order to broaden his efficiency.
Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut is not your stereotypical Spanish clay-court king. He tends to enjoy the harder surfaces and likes to flatten his groundstrokes on both sides. He started the year with a bang by capturing the Qatar Open title. He has actually has a fairly slow season since, with quarterfinals at the Aussie Open and Miami Open his best results. Looking through his assortment of ATP finals you only find two on clay. He has enjoyed some success in this country, however, claiming the 2014 Stuttgart Open. He won his maiden 500 series event in Dubai last year and he is undoubtedly a class act. But he needs to work on translating some of that hard-court consistency into more notable clay-court success.
This will be their 2nd ever meeting, with Bautista Agut easily overcoming Guido Pella in the opening round of the 2017 Aussie Open. But I just think that Pella is in such terrific clay-court form that he cannot be ignored. He is a former finalist here and seems to love these conditions. He is currently enjoying a remarkably consistent clay-court season and represents better value than a floundering Bautista Agut.
