Saturday’s singles semifinals feature four of the eight men who are in the field for the ATP Finals in Turin, starting one week from Sunday. Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, and Sascha Zverev have combined to win that event six out of the last nine years, while Hubi Hurkacz will be making his ATP Finals debut, a feat he clinched by winning his quarterfinal on Friday. Which player will head to Italy with the most momentum?
Saturday’s play gets underway at 11:45am local time with the first doubles semifinal.
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Hubert Hurkacz (7) – Not Before 2:30pm on Court Central
Djokovic is 2-0 against Hurkacz, with both matches occurring at Majors in 2019. In Paris, Novak prevailed in straight sets. But at Wimbledon, Hurkacz wrestled the second-set tiebreak away from Djokovic, before succumbing to Novak in four. Two years later, the 24-year-old from Poland has put together the best season of his career to date. Hurkacz has claimed three titles on the year, most notably the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami. And he achieved his first Slam semifinal at The Championships, taking out both Medvedev and Roger Federer. This is Novak’s first tournament since his US Open disappointment two months ago, and while he’s advanced rather comfortably, he’s yet to display his best tennis. But these slow-playing conditions in Bercy favor his all-around game over that of the big-hitting Hubi, and should be enough to advance Djokovic to the championship match for the seventh time.
Daniil Medvedev (2) vs. Sascha Zverev (4) – Not Before 4:30pm on Court Central
This is a rematch of last year’s final, which Medvedev took in three sets. Overall Zverev leads their head-to-head 5-4, with all nine meetings on hard courts. Sascha won their first four encounters, with Daniil now prevailing in four of their most recent five. These have been the two most dominant hard court players of the last twelve months. Since last November, Medvedev is 51-6 on this surface, which includes title wins at last year’s ATP Finals as well as this year’s US Open. Zverev is now 27-2 on hard courts since July, which includes an Olympic gold medal and a Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati. Based on how this rivalry has gone over the last two years, Medvedev is the favorite to possibly meet Djokovic in the final, setting up a potential rematch of the US Open final. But Zverev’s current form tops anyone else in the sport, and he has more success on slower surfaces like this than the Russian, who complained after his win on Friday about just how slow the court and balls are playing. I have a feeling the German pulls off the slight upset over the second seed.
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares vs. Tim Puetz and Michael Venus – Murray and Soares were champions last week in St. Petersburg, and finalists in September at the US Open. Puetz and Venus won Hamburg back in July.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut (3) vs. John Peers and Filip Polasek (6) – Peers and Polasek won Indian Wells last month, while the French team won their fifth Major this past June at Roland Garros.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
