Like the women’s draw, the men’s draw also still has all of the Top 4 men left in at the quarter finals. It will be Jannik Sinner who gets the first chance to make the semi finals on Tuesday afternoon but he must beat an in-form Grigor Dimitrov to get there for the first time in his career. The Italian leads the head to head 3-1 with the most recent win being an easy 6-3 6-1 win at Indian Wells a few months back.
Sinner showed some vulnerability in his fourth round over Corentin Moutet but did take the match fairly comfortably after a poor first set. From 2-6 0-1, he lost just five more games to secure victory. “He plays differently to most of my opponents, so it was tough for me. He is also a lefty. You don’t play so many times against left-handers, so I’m happy to be in the next round.” Sinner said after.
Dimitrov now has five Top 10 wins on the year, matching his opponent here. The last of those came against Hubert Hurkacz, who the Bulgarian dispatched with ease to complete the full set of slam quarter finals. He survived 20 aces from the Pole, delivering at key moments in the 7-6 6-4 7-6 win.
Sinner did struggle with the unconventional style of Moutet early on but once he found his bearings, it was all plain sailing for him with the power being too much. Dimitrov should be able to hold his own in the rallies but the issue will remain with finishing off points before his opponent. He doesn’t have the kind of variety that will throw Sinner off but could remain solid off enough to steal a set if the Italian starts slow once more.
Prediction – Jannik Sinner in four sets
