The ATP’s Ricoh Open tournament now chugs along into the quarterfinals and so do our tennis picks. A noticeable upset occurred in the second round on Thursday, and we’ll see if that carries over into play on Friday. The good news is we were unaffected by the upsets as we went 3-0 with our tennis picks. We had David Ferrer to take care of Dudi Sela, and while we thought it would be a close match, Ferrer ended up rolling in straight sets, winning 6-4, 6-4. Then we also had Adrian Mannarino to oust Daniil Medvedev and that’s exactly what happened. Medvedev only won a total of six games. Lastly, we had Ivo Karlovic to usher out Igor Sijsling and he did. It was a closely-contested match, though, as Karlovic won both sets in tie breakers. A matter of about four points could have changed who advanced.
Looking ahed to Friday, the matchups are clearly getting tougher for the higher seeds, No. 1 David Ferrer and No. 2 Bernard Tomic. Here’s a look at our tennis picks for the day.
David Ferrer vs. Gilles Muller
There is no doubt that Ferrer’s experience is a big ally in a close match. Ferrer was able to win two tight sets against Dudi Sela in the second round. He will try to call up that same savvy and guile in the quarterfinals. However, he has to go against Muller, a grass-court threat whose serve-and-volley game is made for grass. His hard left-handed serve is tough to deal with, and he has played top players close at Wimbledon in the past. Ferrer will struggle in this match. He will likely get taken to a third set. Will he lose, though? His experience and the quality of his return game will probably do just enough against Muller to get the job done, but it will be close. Expect at least one if not two tiebreakers in this match. Ferrer is the choice once again for your tennis picks.
Pick: Ferrer in three sets
Sam Querrey vs. Stefan Kozlov
This should be a very interesting match. Querrey probably expected to play No. 4 seed Steve Johnson, a fellow American he knows well. Instead, he’ll play Kozlov, a player of Russian heritage who resides in Florida. Kozlov beat Johnson to make his very first ATP Tour quarterfinal as a teenager. Obviously, Kozlov will be full of confidence and energy as he takes the court after one of the bigger wins of his young career. The question is if that confidence can be sustained throughout the match and converted into another winning performance by the teen. Usually, in tennis, players not accustomed to winning will follow a rare (or first) big win with a spotty effort the next day. They will be thinking of their big win from the previous day and won’t devote the requisite amount of focus to the next match. They find it hard to follow one really good match with another. They feel different, and they allow themselves to get distracted, and maybe feel more pressure than they ought to feel. Leaning on this point of awareness, bettors – while not feeling 100-percent confident – should strongly consider picking Querrey, if only because Kozlov probably won’t remain consistent. Go with Querrey here with your tennis picks. We’re not expecting him to stumble against Kozlov.
Pick: Querrey in straight sets
Bernard Tomic vs. Nicolas Mahut
This is a matchup in which Mahut is finished with doubles in the tournament, having just been knocked off. Mahut was No. 1 in the world in doubles, but he will lose that ranking. Will he now focus on singles in a way that will be productive for him? Will he get a satisfying win in this tournament to compensate for his doubles loss? Maybe. However, Tomic is a former Wimbledon quarterfinalist. Grass is his best surface. It’s just not the right matchup for Mahut. Take Tomic with your tennis picks. There’s some juice here but he should be the better choice for this matchup.
Pick: Tomic in three sets
