TennisSection previews the 2021 Andalucia Open as Pablo Carreno Busta (1) meets Soon-Woo Kwon (7) in the Quarter-Finals on Friday April 9th, 2021.
An interesting Quarter-Final matchup is upon us at the 2021 Andalucia Open. Top seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta will face Soon-Woo Kwon of South Korea in what is expected to be an exciting match between two in-form players. Both men have been in good form lately and will be seeking to reach the Semi-Finals here. Will top seed and title favorite Carreno-Busta get the win? Or can the lower ranked Korean spoil the party and cause the upset?
Pablo Carreno Busta is currently ranked #15 in the ATP world rankings and has been a staple of the top 20 for quite some time. An extremely solid baseliner with penetrating groundstrokes, he is the favorite to lift the trophy here in Marbella. The Spaniard has had a relatively disappointing 2021 season so far by his lofty standards and will be looking to kick start his season here at the 2021 Andalucia Open. He was made to work a bit harder than anticipated in his Round of 16 win over Mario Vilella Martinez and will know that he has to be better against the in-form Soon-Woo Kwon. Carreno Busta enters this match as the overwhelming favorite but will have to be careful not to underestimate his opponent who is quietly putting together a very solid 2021 season.
Soon-Woo Kwon is currently ranked #81 in the ATP world rankings and has been outstanding so far here at the 2021 Andalucia Open. After a tough three set win over Holger Rune in the Opening Round, he cruised past Facundo Bagnis 6-1, 6-3 in what was a brilliant exhibition of clay court tennis. He is a very aggressive baseline player who normally prefers the faster surfaces, but coupled with his outstanding footwork is talented enough to compete on the clay. He enters this match as the massive underdog but will be very confident of causing the upset here due to his current form. If he can remain patient enough to stay with Pablo Carreno Busta during the rallies (a very difficult task) then he is certainly capable of troubling the top seeded Spaniard.
This will be the first time the two players have faced each other on the ATP Tour, and their head to head record stands at 0-0. While this looks like a mismatch on paper, that is not necessarily the case. Pablo Carreno Busta is much higher ranked, but does not have much clay court match play under his belt while his opponent, Soon-Woo Kwon does. An argument can also be made that the Korean has been more impressive thus far here at the 2021 Andalucia Open, and is in better recent form. Despite these factors, I am going with the Spaniard to get the win here. He is one of the fiercest competitors on the ATP Tour and even though he is not at his best, I expect him to eventually figure out a way to get the victory here. It won’t be straightforward, but Pablo Carreno Busta will get the win and advance to the Semi-Finals here at the 2021 Andalucia Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Pablo Carreno Busta to win.
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