Maybe a somewhat unexpected quarterfinal match between Taylor Fritz and Francisco Cerundolo in the Madrid Open late tonight. This is two players that have truly surprised everyone by playing fantastic tennis to reach this round.
Fritz has not lost a single set so far and following straight set wins over Luciano Darderi and Sebastian Baez he got the same result over tough opponent Hubert Hurkacz yesterday. A tough match ended 7-6, 6-4 in the Americans favour. His serve looked really strong and he had 10 aces and won 88% of the points from his first serve.
Clay-lor Fritz ?@Taylor_Fritz97 impressively takes care of Hurkacz 7-6(2) 6-4 to reach his first quarter-final in Madrid!#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/NHDqcvhnrr
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 30, 2024
Fritz, not known for being spectacular on clay courts, has now beaten two clay court specialists and also Hurkacz which won the Estoril title earlier this year.
Francisco Cerundolo progressed by first beating Fabian Marozsan and Tommy Paul to reach a clash with world no 5 Zverev where he was a rather big underdog. The 25-year-old Argentinian didn’t care about that though and took home an impressive straight sets (6-3, 6-4) win to reach the quarter-finals today against Fritz.
Ahead of this tournament, his season had been quite the disappointment so far this year so this is a really nice turnaround for Cerundolo.
H2H stats
These two players only met once and the Argentinian is 1-0 up. Cerundolo’s win over Zverev was actually his first win vs a top10 player since he beat Fritz last year at the Roland Garros.
Taylor Fritz is by far the most experienced player and also the top ranked of the two, at 13 in the ranks vs 22nd spot for Cerundolo.
Predictions and Odds
We expect a tough battle, as it should be in a Masters 1000 quarter-final. Cerundolo enjoys playing on these kind of clay courts and he will rely a lot on his good forehand to outplay Fritz whenever he can.
I really like what we’ve seen from Fritz in Madrid this week and he’s showing good consistency. He’s a clear favorite among most of the top betting sites but it’s definitely playable. He has an advantage in his strong serve and he will be looking to force errors on Cerundolo in these rather fast conditions that should suit him.
Odds for tonight;
- Fritz to win – odds 1.53 | -187.5
- Over 2.5, Total Sets – odds 2.30 | +125
