We preview two of the four quarter-finals from the ATP’s Open 13 taking place on Friday evening.
David Goffin 11/20 | Gilles Simon 13/10
David Goffin- the indefatigable Energizer Bunny of men’s tennis- has not exactly enjoyed the greatest start to the season. He has three opening round defeats to his name this campaign. I’ve always felt that Goffin was a player who drastically overscheduled. It’s perhaps a key reason why he has never gone beyond the quarter-final stage of a Slam- despite all that talent. Goffin’s career highlight was his run to the final of the 2017 ATP World Tour Finals- where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov (where did he go?). His form last season was really a microcosm of his career. There were a litany of quarter-final appearances with the odd semi-final berth. I guess being a perennial presence around the top 10 in this era of men’s tennis is no small thing. Goffin eased past Benoit Paire in the opening match and faces a familiar face this week.
34-year-old Frenchman Gilles Simon enjoyed a real renaissance last season on tour. He reached the Lyon Final prior to a surprising foray into the fourth round at SW19. He then went on to win the Moselle Open, with back-to-back quarter-finals at the Swiss Indoors and European Open only serving to augment a successful campaign for Simon. He started the year in similar fashion, with back-to-back semi-finals at the Maharashtra Open and Sydney Invitational. But he has been slightly disappointing since, especially in his first round defeat in Montpellier. Simon is generally prosperous in home conditions, as evidenced by his form in this event. He has won this event twice, in 2007 and 2015. He beat Hoang easily enough before a real slugfest with Gojowczyk. He will be keen to once again go deep in an event he clearly loves.
These two players know each other fairly well as this will be their fifth meeting. The stats give us little in the way of insight, with two wins apiece. Goffin won their only meeting last season. Simon won the year before in Shanghai. This is going to be an exhaustive baseline affair that will likely feature protracted rallies. I think that Simon is actually the form player and represents good value this week.
Sergiy Stakhovsky 38/10 | Stefanos Tsitsipas 1/6
This match will represent a clash of past and present, with rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas taking on the journeyman to end all journeyman: Sergiy Stakhovsky. Stakhovsky has been a professional since 2003 and enjoyed his best form towards the end of that decade. He actually reached as high as 33 in the world in 2010. In that very year, he captured the Rosmalen and Connecticut Open titles. But certainly, his most iconic moment came at the 2013 Wimbledon event. He unbelievably defeated Roger Federer in four sets, making it the earliest that the Swiss legend had been eliminated from a slam since the 2003 French Open. But outside of that, it has largely been a struggle for the Ukrainian. He largely plied his trade on the Challenger tour last season, actually capturing the Ilkley Challenger event. He will already see this as a huge success, especially after taking down Basic to start his campaign in Marseille.
It was heartening to see just how easily Tsitsipas dealt with the talented Hurkacz. It seemed to suggest to me that the Greek superstar has exorcised the demons of that rather humiliating Aussie Open defeat to Nadal. He hasn’t been in great form and I think it’s taking him some time to come down from those giddy heights. But this tournament has opened up for him in a serious way as many of the top guns have fallen by the wayside. He will likely already have one eye on the European clay-court season, but I shouldn’t think that this will be too much of a problem for the Greek all-court talent.
This will be their first ever meeting, which always tend to give some solace to the underdog. But I really can’t see any other result than a comfortable Tsitsipas victory. Stakhovsky will give it everything, but he has come through a gruelling week and will likely be satisfied with what he has. Tsitsipas to win in straight sets at 11/20.
Written by Damien Kayat for Hollywoodbets.
