Six players can punch their ticket in the quarterfinal of the ATP Swiss Indoors in Basel. One of those is the third seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is making a late push to qualify for the ATP Finals. Will the Greek stumble against the unorthodox Botic van de Zandschulp? We also predict the rest of the day’s matches in a separate article.
ATP Basel Day 4 Predictions
Dominic Stricker vs Holger Rune
Head-to-head: first meeting
Stricker made the quarterfinal in Basel last year. He had to beat a Scandinavian (Casper Ruud) to reach that stage. Will lightning strike twice? He’s certainly got a shot with his ability to mix up pace and punchy lefty serve. Rune has underperformed this season by his own lofty standards, and his ranking justifies it. But if he plays at the same intensity from his straight-sets win over Nicolas Jarry, he will be a handful.
Prediction: Rune in 2
Pedro Martinez vs Arthur Fils
Head-to-head: Martinez 1-1 Fils
Martinez hasn’t played many hard-court matches under the roof throughout his career, which largely explains why he has a lifetime negative win-loss record in these conditions. So, his spot at this stage of the tournament is mildly surprising. He is coming off a very good win over Jiri Lehecka. However, it should be noted that the Czech was not operating at full fitness. After an early exit in Shanghai, Fils has dealt with that Tokyo title hangover and returned to winning ways in Basel. It’s doubtful that Martinez will repel the Frenchman’s seemingly unconstrained power on this surface.
Prediction: Fils in 2
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Botic van de Zandschulp
Head-to-head: Tsitsipas 1-0 van de Zandschulp
Qualifying for the ATP Finals is one of the major goals in a season if you are ranked inside the Top 10. Although Tsitsipas is currently outside the elite group, he has never missed out on being part of the final eight at the season finale in each of the last five seasons. This year, the situation is a little bit trickier. He has been outperformed by new contenders. Unless he can win the title in Basel, then he is set to lose further ground. For now, he will aim to reach the last eight stage, but he doesn’t have a cushy ride to get there. Van de Zandschulp didn’t have much going right after his shock win over Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open. However, he looks in great form this week and looks to be playing with self-belief, which Tsitsipas has been lacking for a while. I’ll go with the bold call and back the upset here.
Prediction: van de Zandschulp in 3
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
