TennisSection previews the 2021 Halle Open as Andrey Rublev (4) meets Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Quarter-Finals on Friday June 18th, 2021.
Fourth seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia will face unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Quarter-Finals here at the 2021 Halle Open. Both men are yet to drop a set at this event, and are in fine form at the moment. Can the unseeded veteran Kohlschreiber continue to roll back the years and cause a massive upset? Or will the Russian star advance to his first grass court Semi-Finals here in Halle as expected?
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 has been impressive so far, defeating Karen Khachanov and Jordan Thompson in straight sets to reach this stage. He is up against yet another beatable opponent in Phillipp Kohlschreiber, who was not expected to reach this far in the draw. While Rublev is the huge favorite for this encounter, he would be wise to not underestimate his opponent, who is highly experienced on this surface.
Philpp Kohlschreiber is currently ranked a lowly #128th on the ATP Tour, but is a former top 20 player. The German veteran has struggled mightily over the past few years and is approaching the end of a successful career. Despite his recent struggles, Kohlschreiber has been impressive so far here at the 2021 Halle Open, defeating Jurij Rodionov and Corentin Moutet in straight sets, to set up this clash with the world number seven player Andrey Rublev. The German is clearly the underdog here and not many would give him any chance here against Rublev, but his experience and numerous top 10 wins are nothing to take lightly. He will have to play the best match over the past five years to get anything out of this match however, and it will be interesting to see how his body holds up here.
This will be the second meeting between the two players, with the German Kohlschreiber leading the head to head series 1-0. He won their only meeting back in 2017 in Hamburg on clay, so that result has very little bearing on this match. Andrey Rublev has since transformed into one of the best players in the world, and should cruise through this match dominating from the baseline. Philipp Kohnschreiber is nothing neat the player that he once was, and while he is still capable of some solid tennis, it is extremely unlikely that he has what it takes to challenge the world number seven here. Expect Andrey Rublev to win in straight sets, advancing to the Semi-Finals here at the 2021 Halle Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Andrey Rublev to win in straight sets.
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