TennisSection previews the 2021 Hall of Fame Open as Alexander Bublik [1] takes on Kevin Anderson [8] in the semifinals on Saturday, July 16th, 2021.
Will Alexander Bublik continue his impressive form to make the semifinals? Will Kevin Anderson pull off a big upset to make the semifinals? We’ll see lots of huge serving between these two on the grass. Who will move on to the final at the 2021 Hall of Fame Open?
Alexander Bublik is coming into this semifinal fresh as a daisy, having gotten through his opponent swiftly, 6-2 6-4. He has been serving tremendously throughout the tournament, which is no big surprise, only letting his opponents have a look at two break points throughout the entire tournament. I think it’s very unlikely that Anderson will break Bublik unless he plays a bad game, with someone like Bublik, emotional spurts are definitely possible, so him being broken or the match going three sets wouldn’t surprise me much, but him losing the match in the end definitely would. It’s no question he’s the big favorite to make the final here and to lift the title at the 2021 Hall of Fame Open.
Kevin Anderson is coming through to this contest against Bublik after going through crowd favorite Jack Sock in three sets. Anderson has also been serving very well throughout the tournament, however, today his first service was only at 57%. I think this is way too low if he wants to have a chance against Bublik, as serving that many seconds will certainly give Alexander many chances to attack him and break into the sets without needing a tiebreaker. While his win % on the second serve was 65%, Sock is not Bublik, and it will be lower than that for sure so long as Bublik continues to play the way that he has, Anderson will have to keep his first serve percentage high and hope he gets lucky or attempt to out-play him in the tiebreakers.
Alexander Bublik and Kevin Anderson have never played before, with this being their first career meeting. They’re both huge servers, but Bublik has more variety and finesse, and all that is very important on the grass. Let’s not forget that Anderson is a great grass court player, having reached the final of Wimbledon in 2018, but despite that, he is not the player he was then, and so he will need to make sure his first serve percentage is pretty high, and he’ll have to play hyper-aggressive off the return, he has a lot of power and he’ll need to load that onto the few opportunities he does get, he’ll have to mostly play with nothing to lose on those points, and hope for the best.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Alexander Bublik to win.
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