ATP Dubai, Acapulco & Santiago & WTA San Diego 2024 Preview & Predictions
Returning Daniil Medvedev, Jessica Pegula will be in focus in this week's tennis tournaments.
This week the focus in Dubai will shift from the women to the men while there are competitions in Austin, Acapulco, Santiago and San Diego on show as well.
The women’s tournament this week threw a lot of surprises with Anna Kalinskaya setting up an unexpected final against Jasmine Paolini in one of the biggest upset runs of recent times.
Will the trend continue in the men’s event or will the usual suspects find their way to the final?
In addition to the ATP 500 event in Dubai, there will be another ATP 500 this week, with Alex de Minaur looking to defend his title in Acapulco.
While both the ATP 500 tournaments are hard court events, there will also be a third men’s tournament this week, played on clay in Chile. Local boy Nicolas Jarry will look to win the ATP 250 tournament for the second straight year.
On the women’s side, Jessica Pegula will lead the pack in the WTA 500 in San Diego, while Austin will play host to a WTA 250 tournament for the second year in a row.
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Can Medvedev Defend Crown in Dubai?
Daniil Medvedev had knocked out Andrey Rublev to win the title last year. Both of them return this year.
While Medvedev is the top seed, Rublev is the second seed. Could they be meeting in the final once again this year?
Medvedev will be a bit rusty having not played a match since his Australian Open final meltdown when he lost to Jannik Sinner even after taking the first two sets.
The 20-time tour level champion has played just one tournament this year. In his second tournament, he will be taking on Alexander Shevchenko in the first round.
The top seed is expected to go deep this year and faces Lorenzo Sonego in a potential second round and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a potential quarterfinal.
If all the seeds advance as expected, we might see a quarterfinal matchup between third seed Hubert Hurkacz and fifth seed Ugo Humbert. Both are 1-1 this year with Hurkacz winning at the Australian Open and Humbert winning in semifinals of Open 13.
While we expect a Medvedev-Hurkacz semifinal in the top half of the draw, the bottom half will see some tough competition for the 2022 champion and 2023 runner-up Rublev.
The Russian hasn’t been in good form recently, having lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open and the Qatar Open.
Rublev faces Zhizhen Zhang in the first round and if he passes the first test, he could face Lorenzo Musetti in round 2.
His quarterfinal opponent could be sixth seed Adrian Mannarino, while fourth seed Karen Khachanov is expected to meet Montpellier champion Alexander Bublik in a potential quarterfinal.
Khachanov picked up his sixth career title on Saturday by beating Jakub Mensik in the final in Qatar.
He was also a semifinalist in Marseille and is expected to carry that form to Dubai. On form, he is the prime contender to meet Medvedev in the final.
Top ATP Dubai Tip
We expect a Medvedev versus Khachanov final here.
Tough Competition Awaits Acapulco
At the time of writing this article, Casper Ruud was playing Jordan Thompson in the final of the Los Cabos Open. The two will once again be in action at the Acapulco Open this week.
The sixth seeded Ruud and the unseeded Thompson are in the bottom half in Acapulco and they could meet in the semifinal. But the road to the semis won’t be easy, particularly for the Aussie.
Thompson will play a qualifier first up, but faces a potential second round against second seed Holger Rune. The Dane is not in the best of forms this year, yet he is expected to progress.
Last week’s Delray Beach Open champion Taylor Fritz is also in the bottom half. He is the fourth seed and we expect him to reach the final from this half.
In the top half, the focus will be on top seed Alexander Zverev and fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Both participated in Los Cabos as well but both went down in the semifinals. Could they be meeting in the semis in Acapulco?
Zverev will begin his campaign against fellow German Daniel Altmaier. He could then meet Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round and then faces Tommy Paul in a potential quarterfinal.
Last year’s runner-up Paul was a finalist in Delray Beach last week and is expected to give Zverev a tough fight. He is 2-0 against the German and could keep that record intact.
In the other quarterfinal in the top half, there is a high chance of third seed De Minaur taking on fifth seed Tsitsipas.
De Minaur had beaten Paul for the title last year and will be a prime contender to defend the title this year. But a quarterfinal meeting with Tsitsipas could be a bit tricky for the Aussie as the Greek has a 12-1 record against De Minaur.
Acapulco Open Predictions
Predicted Quarterfinals Line-up:
Zverev v Paul
De Minaur v Tsitsipas
Fritz v Ruud
Rune v Tiafoe
Semifinals:
Zverev v Tsitsipas
Fritz v Tiafoe
Final:
Fritz v Zverev
Can Jarry Make it 2 in 2 in Chile?
Nicolas Jarry is the top seed and will be looking to defend the title in Santiago.
Jarry was a runner-up in Buenos Aires earlier this month, but he was knocked out in his opening round in Rio last week. He will look to overcome the disappointment in Chile.
Sebastian Baez and Mariano Navone were scheduled to play in the final in Rio at the time of writing and the two could be facing in the second round in Chile.
Baez is the second seed and we expect him to reach another final.
Santiago Open Prediction
A Jarry-Baez final looks likely, with Jarry expected to defend the title.
Photo Credit: Pulv
Pegula Returns to Action in San Diego
Jessica Pegula has been out of action since the Australian Open. But she returns to action in San Diego as the top seed. Last year’s champion Barbora Krejcikova is out of action, so there will be a new champion this year.
Pegula, who was a runner-up at the WTA Finals in 2023, will be looking to pick up her fifth career title, but the American may find things difficult as she has not been in action for a while.
Beatriz Haddad Maia is the second seed, but is coming off two back-to-back first round exits.
Emma Navarro is the third seed and has lost a bit of fizz after a stunning start to the season. Home crowd will back her to do will and we expect her to go deep in the tournament.
WTA San Diego Prediction
We see Navarro playing the final with Pegula.
Stephens Is Our Pick in Austin
2023 champion Marta Kostyuk is not participating in the tournament this year, but it’s another Ukrainian Anhalina Kalinina, who is the top seed.
There are questions about Kalinina’s recent form, and we don’t expect her to go all the way to the title. Our favourite is the second seed Sloane Stephens, who will have the support of home fans.
We think she will pick up her eighth career title.
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