It’s semifinal Saturday at the ABN AMRO Open, where three of the participants are no surprise. Carlos Alcaraz, Alex de Minaur, and Hubert Hurkacz are joined in the last four by qualifier Mattia Bellucci. A showdown between Alcaraz and Hurkacz headlines the order of player.
Here is my preview and pick for that matchup.
(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (8) Hubert Hurkacz
Alcaraz and Hurkacz will be squaring off four the fourth time in their careers. All three of their previous encounters have gone the way of Alcaraz, but it hasn’t been easy. He got the job done 7-6(5), 7-6(2) at the 2022 Miami Masters, 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) at the 2023 Toronto Masters, and 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 at the 2023 Cincinnati Masters.
A change of scenery from outdoors to indoors could be just what Hurkacz needs to turn the tide. His serve is dangerous under any conditions, but on a fast surface it is even more lethal. The Pole has dropped serve just once this week and has also lost only one set while ousting Flavio Cobolli, Jiri Lehecka, and Andrey Rublev. Alcaraz also surrendered one set en route to the semifinals, defeating Botic van de Zandschulp in three and both Andrea Vavassori and Pedro Martinez in two.
The draw now gets much tougher for Alcaraz–perhaps too tough, in fact. On an indoor hard court (where the world No. 3 has never won an ATP title), Hurkacz could have the edge.
Pick: Hurkacz in 3
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.