The quarter-final action at the 2021 ATP St. Petersburg Open will feature the top three seeds in action. Top seed and local favourite Andriy Rublev will face Botic van der Zandschulp, Denis Shapovalov, seeded second, will play Jan-Lennard Struff, whilst the third seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut will play Marin Cilic. Get the live streaming options for these matches along with Taylor Fritz v John Millman.
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Andrey Rublev v Botic van de Zandschulp Preview
Rublev has now reversed his decision and agreed to be vaccinated before the Australian Open starts. However, before that, he still has challenges to come this year, including the ATP Finals, the Paris Masters, and trying to win this tournament on home soil.
Given a bye in the first round, he faced a potentially difficult opponent then in the form of Ilya Ivashka, the Winston Salem winner, but he produced a more assured performance to defeat the Belarussian a break of serve in each set enough to get the job done.
Van de Zandschulp was the man who came through qualifying to make the last eight at the US Open, and now he is into the quarter-finals again of another prestigious event.
He began his week with a comprehensive defeat of Yoshida Nishioka, dropping just four games to the Japanese player, and, equally impressive was the one that he disposed of the challenge of the American NextGen finalist, the number eight seed Sebastian Korda, beating him in straight sets.
With home advantage on his side, Rublev will start the clear favourite for this match.
Rublev v Van de Zandschulp Tip
Rublev to win: 5/18 (bet365)
Denis Shapovalov v Jan-Lennard Struff Preview
Wimbledon semi-finalist Shapovalov is still looking to add to the one solitary senior ATP title he won back in 2019, although he came close in Geneva earlier this year where he finished runner-up.
Given a first round bye, he then faced the Spaniard Pablo Andujar-Alba, a man usually more at home on a clay court. However, the Canadian began badly, dropped his opening service game, and then found himself a break down.
Forced to respond, he engineered the only break of the second set, and white-washed the Spaniard in the third.
Struff has never won a senior ATP final, although like Shapovalov, he did reach a final earlier this year, losing on home soil in Munich. Other than that, it has been a largely disappointing year for the hard hitting German, so it would be good o end on a positive note.
He has enjoyed two straight set victories so far, defeating first the in-form Australian James Duckworth and then Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.
Struff leads their head-to-head series by four matches to two but, by dint of his seeding and higher world ranking, Shapovalov is tipped to win.
Shapovalov v Struff Tip
Shapovalov to win: 5/9 (bet365)
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Roberto Bautista-Agut v Marin Cilic Preview
Bautista-Agut has managed to equal his best performance in an indoor court tournament this year by reaching this stage of the competition, in the process maintaining his fine record in St. Petersburg.
He has made the quarter-finals here on each of hs last six previous visits, and, on three occasions progressed beyond that.
To get there this time he had to overcome the challenge of the American Mackenzie McDonald, but what looked to be a tricky match on paper, proved to be anything but in reality, the Spaniard dropping just five games in his victory.
The 2014 US Open winner signalled that he may be finding some late season form by reaching the final in Moscow last week, and there appears to be something about playing in Russia that agrees with him, as he easily beat the Spanish clay court player Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round.
That earned him a second round match against local favourite Karen Khachanov, the Olympic silver medallist, but, despite dropping the second set on a tie-break, it was the Croat who held his nerve the better in the third to secure the win.
This has the makings of a close contest. Bautista-Agut will start the favourite because of his higher ranking and better form overall in 2021, but Cilic is not a man to be underestimated.
Bautista-Agut v Cilic Tip
Bautista-Agut to win: 9/10 (bet365)
Taylor Fritz v John Millman Preview
Fritz has continued the form which saw him reach the semi-finals in Indian Wells recently.
The number five seed began with a comfortable victory over Emil Ruusuvouri of Finland, before renewing his rivalry with compatriot Tommy Paul from their junior days when the pair competed against each other several times for Grand Slam titles.
It was a typically close match between the pair with the first set decided by a tie-break, whilst a single break in the second was enough to tilt the match decisively in the favour of Fitz.
Millman has endured a disappointing 2021, failing to build on his first senior tour win in Kazakhstan last November. However, he still has a chance to redeem something from the season after reaching the last eight in St. Petersburg.
He was given a kind first round draw against the Israeli Yshai Oliel, dropping just two games to the wildcard.
However, he then produced a big upset by knocking out the number four seed, Aslan Karatsev, the Moscow winner from last week, beating him in straight sets for the loss of just five games.
Fritz won the only previous meeting between these two in Acapulco again and, based on recent form, is tipped to do so again.
Fritz v Millman Tip
Fritz to win: 5/12 (bet365)
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The 2021 St. Petersburg Open will be played from October 25 to 31. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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