Aljaz Bedene ensured that there will be three British players in Challenger finals this week, as he returned to defend his title in Irving, Texas by defeating young American Jared Donaldson 6-4, 6-3.
Bedene, who switched his allegiance from Slovenia to Great Britain around this time a year ago, defeated an American for the second straight round following his quarter-final win over Franes Tiafoe. Donaldson proved a little easier than the three set battle with Tiafoe, as the American could not reproduce the dominant numbers on second serve that he enjoyed against Andre Rublev in the previous round. Bedene would earn breaks in both sets to win comfortably.
His opponent in the final last year was Tim Smyczek, but the American lost in the first round this week. Instead, he will face in-form Spanish veteran Marcel Granollers. The former world no. 19 gave Andy Murray a battle in Indian Wells last week, and he defeated Big-serving Ivan Dodig 6-0, 6-1. Granollers outclassed the Croatian in a complete mismatch.
The head-to-head between Bedene and Granollers stands at 1-1. Bedene won on the indoor hard-courts of Paris last year, and Granollers win came on the clay in Buenos Aires in 2014.
Prediction: Granollers in arguably playing his best tennis for a few years, and emphatic wins over Lukas Rosol and Ivan Dodig would testify to this. Bedene has form at this event, but has struggled through wins over Dmitry Tursunov and Frances Tiafoe. Winner: Granollers in three sets.
