TennisSection previews the 2021 Halle Open as Andrey Rublev (4) meets Jordan Thompson in the Round of 16 on Wednesday June 16th, 2021.
Fourth seeded Russian Andrey Rublev will face unseeded Jordan Thompson of Australia in the Round of 16 at the Halle Open. Both men won their First Round matches in similar fashion, winning in two close sets. Can the unfancied Thompson cause the massive upset or will Rublev get the win here as expected, advancing to the Quarter-Finals in Halle?
Andrey Rublev is currently ranked #7 in the ATP world rankings and is the fourth seed here at the 2021 Halle Open. The Russian has been making waves on the ATP Tour of late, dominating the ATP-500 and finally starting to make his mark on the bigger events. Rublev will be eager to find form here in Halle after a disappointing French Open and was impressive in his First Round win over countryman Karen Khachanov, winning in two tough sets, 6-3, 7-6. Despite his relative inexperience on this surface, he enters this Second Round encounter against Jordan Thompson as the massive favorite and will be backing himself to win here. His penetrating, flat groundstrokes are a major weapon on this quicker surface and it will be a major shock if he were to lose here.
Jordan Thompson is currently ranked #81 on the ATP Tour and is unseeded here at the 2021 Halle Open. The Australian has been ranked as high as #43 before, but has been having a relatively poor year so far in 2021, with a losing 8-11 ranking. Thompson is a very solid player but lacks any real weapons that can trouble the top players, and has a relatively poor record on grass. He was impressive in his opening round victory over Daniel Altmaier, but Andrey Rublev is a completely different level to the German, and is massively favored to win here. The Australian will have to play the absolute match of his life and hope that the Russian star has an off day if he is to get the win here.
This will be the first meeting between the two players on the ATP Tour, and their head to head record stands at 0-0. This is a straightforward match to predict, and Andrey Rublev will win in straight sets. The Russian star is quite inexperienced on grass, but has proven that he is one of the best players in the world, and the surface should not matter too much here. Jordan Thompson is a good player but lacks the firepower to truly take advantage of the quicker surface, and I expect this to be a relatively easy match for Rublev who will win and advance to the Quarter-Finals here at the 2021 Halle Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Andrey Rublev to win
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