Christopher O’Connell vs Grigor Dimitrov
Time: 6:00 PM IST
Head-to-head: 0-1
Grigor Dimitrov showcased his dominance as he triumphed over the reigning ATP Marrakech champion, Roberto Carballes Baena, in back-to-back sets, solidifying his spot in the quarterfinals of ATP Geneva for the second time in his career. This achievement mirrors his previous performance in 2021 when he also reached this stage, only to suffer a narrow defeat at the hands of Pablo Cuevas in a tightly contested two-set match.
Despite failing to secure consecutive victories since his impressive semifinal run in Rotterdam back in February, the former world #3 has displayed commendable overall performance in most of his matches. It is worth mentioning that three of his recent four losses were against formidable opponents, namely Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic, all of which extended to three sets.
Unfortunately for the Bulgarian, encounters with Australian adversaries this year have proven to be less fortunate, as he faced them on three occasions and failed to complete the matches twice. In Indian Wells, an injury compelled him to retire during the third set against Jason Kubler, and just last month in Barcelona, he had to withdraw from his match against Alex de Minaur.
On the other hand, Christopher O’Connell had a fortunate opportunity to avoid consecutive second-round exits in ATP Geneva, as his opponent Bernabe Zapata Miralles encountered fitness issues and was compelled to retire. The Spaniard retired after enduring nine consecutive game losses, finding himself trailing at a daunting 0-6, 0-3.
While Grigor Dimitrov prepares to make his first clay quarterfinal appearance in over a year, his Australian counterpart has already participated in two such matches this year. He emerged victorious against Flavio Cobolli in Munich but experienced a defeat from a winning position against Pavel Kotov in Marrakech.
We expect O’Connell to put up a tough fight against Dimitrov and maybe even force a tie-break.
Prediction: Back over 21.5 games