We are moving into the business end of the tournaments that have been scheduled for this week and more retirements in Dubai will lead to more questions.
The final eight names in the WTA 1000 event are surprising in the main, and the Quarter Final matches look tough to call.
You can say the same for the Quarter Finals in Doha with one selection made from that tournament and one from the remaining Second Round matches scheduled in Delray Beach.
Any selections from the ATP Rio tournament will be added to this thread and the weekly totals will also be updated once the full results from Wednesday are in.
Carlos Alcaraz - 5.5 games v Karen Khachanov: The World Number 1 has not been at his very best in the ATP Doha tournament, but Carlos Alcaraz will be comfortable with the level he has been producing to move through to the Quarter Final.
He arrived after completing the career Grand Slam with the title at the Australian Open, but credit has to be given to Alcaraz for stating there is still more development to improve his tennis.
It is a desire that could see Carlos Alcaraz competing for Grand Slam titles for many years to come and he will be seen as the player to beat at the remaining Slams to be played in 2026.
Strong numbers have been produced on the hard courts since the start of the 2024 season and Carlos Alcaraz is developing the serve, which is going to make it even easier for him to put opponents under pressure. It has been a strong weapon for him over the last couple of years, but the early signs are that Alcaraz is going to have an even better serve in 2026 and that will allow him to play with some real aggression on the return.
He will be challenged in this Quarter Final by a big hitting, aggressive player in Karen Khachanov who gave Carlos Alcaraz all he could handle in a tight defeat at the Rome Masters on the clay last season.
The World Number 17 has needed to go the full three sets in both opening wins in Doha, but he will be glad the conditions will offer his first serve some support. That is going to be vital for Karen Khachanov to see if he can keep Carlos Alcaraz under considerable pressure and look for that to dictate how the Spaniard responds.
However, Karen Khachanov will also be aware that he cannot afford to allow too many looks at his second serve against a return player like Carlos Alcaraz who will be looking to control rallies from the opening shot played.
Karen Khachanov is not having nearly as much success as Carlos Alcaraz when it comes to the return game and that will put more pressure on his serve. He has held almost 90% of service games played on the hard courts this season, which will give Khachanov real belief, but the highest Ranked opponent faced in 2026 is the World Number 25 and this is a considerably tougher test against the Australian Open Champion.
In the previous five matches on the Tour, Carlos Alcaraz has a huge edge in terms of Breaks of serve put together and the Spaniard may be able to push through and find the Breaks needed to cover this relatively big line.
Taylor Fritz - 3.5 games v Rafael Jodar: The 19 year old Spaniard is going to be improving his World Ranking again at the end of the tournament in Delray Beach, but he will be looking to crack the top 100 for the first time.
Rafael Jodar will need an upset over the top Seed in the tournament and that may be asking too much of him at this stage of the career.
The numbers produced over the last twelve months on the hard courts are impressive- Jodar has won 77% of the matches played with over fifty wins produced, while he has held 81% of service games played and broken in 32% of return games.
However, those numbers have largely been built on dominating lower Ranked opponents and Rafael Jodar is 2-2 over the last twelve months against top 100 Ranked players on the hard courts. His serve has been attacked relentlessly by the better players on the Tour and Taylor Fritz can certainly put the youngster under pressure, even with a limited return game.
Taylor Fritz is very comfortable on the hard courts and he reached the Final last week in Dallas.
In the limited amount of matches played on the hard courts in 2026, Taylor Fritz has not been nearly as strong on the return of serve as he has been in previous years. He will want to seen that improved ahead of the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, while Taylor Fritz will not have faced too many players as inexperienced as the one in front of him in this Second Round match.
There is every reason to believe that Taylor Fritz will be helped by the opponent he is facing on Thursday and the American may do enough to find the Breaks needed to cover this spread.
MY PICKS: Carlos Alcaraz - 5.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Victor (1 Unit)
Taylor Fritz - 3.5 Games @ 1.85 William Hill (1 Unit)
No comments:
Post a Comment