Those results have erased the positive start to the week, but the weekend can still turn things back around beginning with a busy Friday filled with Quarter Final matches on the ATP Tour and the two Semi Final matches to be played in Doha.
Both of those Semi Final matches look competitive on paper and hard to call and so have not fit the selection policy for the pages, but any selections from the ATP events will be placed in this thread.
The events in Delray Beach and Buenos Aires will have markets set later so will be added, if any selections are to be made, but the focus for now will be on the Marseille Quarter Finals.
Zizou Bergs - 1.5 games v Zhizhen Zhang: Some controversy was attached to Zizou Bergs' win at the Davis Cup, but he has built up some momentum and this tournament in Marseille represents a good chance to earn important World Ranking points.
Winning the tournament will be anything but easy, although Zizou Bergs has put a couple of solid wins on the board and that will have given the World Number 62 plenty of confidence.
After coming through Qualifying, Zizou Bergs reached the Final in the tournament in Auckland in the build up to the Australian Open and the two wins in Marseille will mean that the Belgian is set for a new career high World Ranking mark early next week.
He is serving very well in his two wins that have been put on the board and that has allowed Zizou Bergs to play aggressively on the return and mentally break down opponents.
Next up is World Number 52 Zhizhen Zhang who is trending back towards the career high Ranking that was set in July last year. An upset of Hubert Hurkacz in the Second Round is a huge boost for Zhizhen Zhang, but backing that up will not be easy and not on a surface on which Zhang has had struggles to find his consistency.
Much like his opponent, Zhizhen Zhang has served well so far this week and his 4-5 record on the hard courts is partly down to the difficult draws he has faced. Four of those defeats have been against opponents Ranked Number 13 or higher, while the exception is a loss to Denis Shapovalov, who has shown signs of getting back to his best tennis.
This has to be encouraging for Zhizhen Zhang, but Zizou Bergs has had a considerable edge when it comes to the return of serve.
Over the last twelve months, Zhang has an 8-8 record on the hard courts when facing opponents Ranked lower than himself and he has only broken in 17% of return games played.
When these players met in Shanghai towards the end of last season, Zizou Bergs was able to play the key points much more efficiently compared with Zhizhen Zhang. He will need to do the same here, but has shown a bit more than the World Number 52 on the return of serve and that can just see Bergs push through to another Semi Final on the Tour in 2025.
Thiago Seyboth Wild v Laslo Djere: At his best he was a comfortable top 50 Ranked player, but it has been a difficult year for Laslo Djere and the World Ranking has plummeted.
He has begun this week outside of the top 100 of the World Rankings and that meant having to Qualify for the tournament in Buenos Aires, but you have to consider the confidence boost the Serb will have given himself by putting four wins together.
The first three were comfortable, but Laslo Djere needed a final set tie-breaker to get the better of Alejandro Tabilo in the Second Round and set up this Quarter Final match.
There is nothing wrong with the numbers being produced by Laslo Djere and he has been a solid clay court competitor in his career so the surface is not going to be one that is concerning him at all. Facing a Brazilian in this Quarter Final should mean any support from the stands is very going to be heading to his side of the net and Djere will be tough to beat if he continues to back up his serve as he has all week.
With that in mind it is perhaps not a surprise that the Serb is the favourite in this Quarter Final, especially as he is facing an opponent who has also been trending in the wrong direction as far as the World Ranking goes over the last nine months.
Confidence will not have been helped by opening 2025 with three straight losses, but the Golden Swing through South America should be an opportunity for Thiago Seyboth Wild to just begin to turn things around.
He has two wins over home favourites already this week, so dealing with the crowd on Friday is not expected to be a massive problem, and one of the wins has eliminated a Seeded player from the tournament.
Like Laslo Djere, Thiago Seyboth Wild has found a way to protect his serve on a surface where it is that much more difficult to do, while he has also played the key points slightly more effectively than the Serb on the return.
This could be a key to the outcome of this Quarter Final, as will the fact that Thiago Seyboth Wild managed to beat Laslo Djere twice on the clay courts in 2024.
Previously he had lost all three matches against Djere, but was dominant behind serve and then able to get into the return games in those two wins. Both have been played since July 2024 and that mental edge could make the difference in what is expected to be a competitive, and closely fought out battle for a place in the last four and the chance to earn some vital Ranking points ahead of bigger tournaments to come.
MY PICKS: Zizou Bergs - 1.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (1 Unit)
Thiago Seyboth Wild @ 2.10 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Weekly Update: 3-3, - 0.43 Units (6 Units Staked, - 7.17% Yield)
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