It is time for another quarterfinal day of another ATP tour level 500 event. This is yet another week that has some fun stories while the top players in the tournament for the most part have made it to this point. With this being the last week of tennis before the two biggest 1000 level events, it is surprising how many top 10 players chose to play some tennis this week. Now that so many of them did play, these players want some momentum going into the spring swing in the states, and this tournament will set up a player to get that all-important momentum.
ATP- Felix Auger- Aliassime(-250) vs. Marin Cilic(+200)–> Prediction: Auger- Aliassime
This is the easiest pick of these quarterfinal matchups. It’s been nice to see Cilic rewind the clock back to his 2010s play in which he was a top 10 player. But with situations like Cilic, multiple wins in these tournaments already makes this a big week for him and it feels unrealistic for this to translate to making the last four of an event like this. The Canadian has had a strong start in 2o25 and has played much more consistent tennis than Cilic of late. This feels like a fun story for Cilic than to actually bet in the Croatian.
ATP- Stefanos Tsitsipas(+140) vs. Matteo Berrettini(-172)–> Prediction: Berrettini
This is easily the match of the day in Dubai. Two players who have gone deep in majors and have won multiple big-time events on tours. Both are in weird spots in their career, as both are in their respective primes but not playing any consistent tennis, which makes this a toss up and tough to bet. Tsitsipas had to battle to get over the finish line on Wednesday and the Italian had a solid but not as time-consuming win. These two players have some of the best serves in the world.
What will take the Italian to the winners circle in the ATP is the momentum of his season, as the Greek continues to get used to his new team and not knowing if he is on the level of the current top five players. This will lead to another underwhelming result for Tsitsipas.
ATP- Daniil Medvedev(-430) vs. Tallon Griekspoor(+310)–> Prediction: Medvedev
The former U.S. Open is finally playing the tennis many have expected out of him for the ATP. His win on Wednesday was the most impressive in weeks. Griekspoor upset the defending champion who was Ugo Humbert. Humbert has had a great 12 months and for Griekspoor to come out on top was a massive win. But sadly for him, he’s met with the best hard court player in this tournament, which means his run in Dubai should be coming to an end in the last eight.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, it’s great for the sport that so many top players play on a consistent basis in the ATP. Usually in a week before a big Masters 1000 event, many of the top players try to rest up. Having these premier players playing weekly makes the season and many other tournaments more important than they have ever been. This week in Dubai showed how wide open the sport is as top players have looked good and players barely in the top 100 have gotten huge wins. The depth of the sport continues to be on full display, which should bleed into this being a fun spring swing.
