Ricky’s Tennis Picks For Wednesday In Miami, Including Federer vs. Medvedev And Isner vs. Bautista Agut

Roger Federer of Switzerland in action against Filip Krajinovic of Serbia during their men’s singles match at the Miami Open tennis tournament in Miami, Florida, USA, 25 March 2019. EPA-EFE/JASON SZENES

 

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

Wednesday’s rain will be Thursday ticket-holders’ gain at the Miami Open. Two men’s quarterfinal matches were already on the schedule and now Roger Federer vs. Daniil Medvedev got pushed back a day. Thus there are three matches on Thursday instead of just two, one of which involves none other than the GOAT. Yes, it is quite simply another tennis treat.

 

Ricky previews the action and makes his predictions.

 

(4) Roger Federer vs. (13) Daniil Medvedev

Federer looked just a bit rusty in his opening match against Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot, as the Swiss dropped the first set before righting the ship. Predictably, there were no such signs of rust in his third-rounder. Federer raised his level and came out on top against Filip Krajinovic via a 7-5, 6-3 decision.

Medvedev, on the other hand, had to work incredibly hard on Monday. The in-form Russian faced towering American Reilly Opelka and needed three tiebreak sets to send Opelka packing. He gets an unexpected day off, which will help. What won’t help is the guy on the other side of the net. Federer and Medvedev collided twice last fall; Federer won both meetings on hard courts.

Pick: Federer in 2

 

(22) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (7) John Isner

The U.S. hard-court summer–and most notably Atlanta–will never not be Isner’s favorite time of year. But Miami continues to make a case for being runner-up in that department. Isner is the defending champion of this Masters 1000 tournament and he has improved his lifetime record to 22-10 with straight-set defeats of Lorenzo Sonego, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and Kyle Edmund.

Next up for the world No. 9 is a third career contests against Bautista Agut, who trails the head-to-head series 3-2. Surprisingly, they have not faced each other since 2016–when the Spaniard got on the scoreboard against Isner by avenging 2013 and 2014 hard-court setbacks with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 success in Auckland. Wednesday figured to feature a showdown between the defending champion and the world No. 1, but Novak Djokovic went down to Bautista Agut 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 during fourth-round action. The world No. 25 previously took out Janko Tipsarevic and Fabio Fognini, improving his 2019 record to an amazing 14-3.

Pick: Bautista Agut in 3

 

(Q) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (11) Borna Coric

Results just keep getting better and better for Auger-Aliassime. The 18-year-old’s Golden Swing included a runner-up showing in Rio de Janeiro and a quarterfinal performance in Sao Paulo before he reached the third round in Indian Wells. He has now trumped all of those with a run to his first-ever Masters 1000 quarterfinal, qualifying for the main draw and then getting the best of Casper Ruud, Marton Fucsovics, Hubert Hurkacz, and Nikoloz Basilashvili.

It is true that Auger-Aliassime has benefited from favorable draws, and that trend continues here. Coric is without question a tough opponent, but you can’t ask for a better opportunity in the QFs of such a huge tournament. In fact, the 13th-ranked Croat had been a mere 3-4 in his last seven matches prior to arriving in Miami. So far this fortnight Coric has beaten Roberto Carballes Baena, Jeremy Chardy, and Nick Kyrgios, requiring three sets on all of those occasions. It’s not like his confidence is all of sudden peaking following a lackluster January and February.

Pick: Auger-Aliassime in 3

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.