Halle 2024 Final – Sinner vs Hurkacz
From friends to foes, doubles partners Jannick Sinner and Hubert Hurkacz are preparing to face off in the final of the Halle Open. Although the pair have never met on grass, they have each beaten each other twice, their most recent battle taking place in 2023 at the Monte Carlo Masters, where Sinner prevailed in three sets.
Hurkacz is looking right at home on the quick grass courts of Halle. He has dominated his opponents with the classic serve plus big forehand pattern and hasn’t given anyone a chance to get involved in his service games. Standing at 196cm tall he moves extremely well, he silkily glides around the grass and has impressive end range ground strokes. Sinner has had a tougher tournament so far with three out of his four matches requiring a deciding set.
I think it’s taken Jannik a few matches to adjust to the fast low bouncing grass after Roland Garros. Of course, the Italian star is still playing some great tennis, with the sound of his monstrous forehand continuing to strike fear into the hearts of his opponents, he has displayed class and brutal power on the way to the final this year.
Prediction: In this match up I’m going to give the edge to the top seed, Jannik Sinner. He possesses the ability to neutralize the Hurkacz serve better than anyone in the draw, on top of this he has more finals experience than the Polish player. This should be an exhilarating final, but I think Sinner will be too solid and should take the victory.
Queens Club 2024 Final – Musetti vs Paul
To Queens now and we have two somewhat unlikely finalists in Lorenzo Musetti and Tommy Paul. Musetti has found some serious form this week. He plays with flair and is crushing the ball with his old-school single-handed backhand.
Lorenzo’s big win this week came against Alex De Minaur in the first round, he played some beautiful grass court tennis and managed to upset the talented Australian. Lorenzo has adapted well to the faster courts and the key to his success has been variation.
The Italian is willing to throw a mixture of slice backhands, heavy forehands, chips and drop shots into every point, he keeps players guessing and constantly changes the trajectory of his shots. If he plays this type of tennis in the final, we should have a serious match on our hands.
Tommy Paul on the other hand has already dispatched of in-form players Sebastian Korda and Jack Draper. Tommy’s game style has flourished on the lush grass at queens. His extremely flat backhand stays low and cuts through the court. He hits the sliding slice serve well and has been very aggressive off the baseline throughout the tournament.
Prediction: Paul is also a world class mover and will make Lorenzo hit lots of balls. My prediction for this final is underdog Lorenzo Musetti, I think the variation he plays with will be enough to trouble Paul. Musetti is a rhythm player, he wins tournaments once he gets on a run of confidence. I think this may well be one of those tournaments.
So, who’s your pick for the finals of Halle and Queens this year?
