Basel Open 2022: Carlos Alcaraz vs. Pablo Carreno Busta Tennis Pick and Prediction

TennisSection previews the 2022 Basel Open as Carlos Alcaraz takes on Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinal on Friday, October 28th, 2022.

Carlos Alcaraz remains the heavy favorite to walk away with Basel Open crown, but he will have his first acid test when he takes on compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta in the last eight. The older and experienced Spaniard is not to be written off, having put together his best season yet in 2022. So, who will prevail?

Carlos Alcaraz motored into another quarterfinal after dismissing Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 6-2 in the Round of 16 of the Basel Open. Just a couple of days prior, Alcaraz had navigated past the dangerous Jack Draper in a tough opener. And despite the perfunctory scoreline against the Dutchman on Wednesday, the world No. 1 was pushed hard. He required one break of serve to settle a tight first set and reeled off six straight games from 0-2 down the second set.

Pablo Carreno Busta, for his part, earned a hard-fought three-set victory over Swiss wild card Dominic Stricker. Since the resumption of the indoor hard-court swing this autumn, CarrenoBusta’s form has been slightly indifferent, losing some close matches in the quarterfinals stage. But he recorded back-to-back wins for the first time since the US Open and is now two spots away from a top-10 year-end ranking.

Carlos Alcaraz leads Pablo Carreno Busta 1-0 in their head-to-head. The Spanish teenager won the Barcelona Open final over his older and experienced compatriot just before this year’s French Open. Alcaraz is likely to have a lot more joy in hitting through Carreno Busta’s defenses. The World No. 15 has felt the toll of a long and grueling season in recent weeks and nearlysuccumbed to another early defeat against Stricker at the Basel Open. I expect Carreno Busta to have picked some learnings from his routine defeat in Barcelona, but Alcaraz will still have the edge here.