Damien Kayat previews Frances Tiafoe vs Lorenzo Musetti and Hubert Hurkacz vs Christopher O’Connell in selected Quart-final matches of the BOSS Open, on the 16th of June 2023.
2022/23 ATP Tour
ATP 250 Series
BOSS Open
Tennis Club Weissenhof, Stuttgart, Germany (Outdoor Grass)
Selected Quarter-finals – 16th June
Odds TBA*
Frances Tiafoe | Lorenzo
Frances Tiafoe’s first-round victory over Jiri Lehecka improved his 2023 record to 24-9. This is the 5th quarterfinal that the popular American has reached this year. He won his 2nd career title at Delray Beach and picked up an impressive semi-final finish at the Indian Wells Masters.
And he showed his class in the clash against Lehecka, winning a staggering 84% of his first-serve points. It was exactly the sort of brutally efficient serving display that should make him an ideal fit for this surface. As it stands, this is only the 3rd time that he has reached a grass-court quarterfinal (he has twice reached the final eight at Queens).
He will actually be aiming to reach a grass-court semi-final for the first time in his career. The 25-year-old is at the stage of his career where he should be acclimatized to the dramatic transition from clay to grass.
It’s easy to overlook the growth of players like Lorenzo Musetti when the likes of Alcaraz and Rune are achieving so much. But the 21-year-old Italian has quietly started to build up a decent resume for himself.
He won his first two titles last year and has recently rocketed up to a career high ranking of 17th in the world. This recent surge was the result of a truly notable clay-court campaign. He actually beat current French Open champion Novak Djokovic en route to the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlos Masters.
He backed that up with a solid semi-final run in Barcelona (where he lost in three sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas). It all culminated in another solid showing at the French Open, where he was unfortunate enough to face a red-hot, injury-free Alcaraz in the 4th round.
Musetti has looked good in Stuttgart, winning back-to-back matches in straight-sets. But Tiafoe is an entirely different proposition.
Verdict: Tiafoe to win in straight-sets
Musetti leads the head-to-head rivalry 2-1 at tour-level (and 3-2 overall). Musetti won their last encounter on the red dirt of Rome. Tiafoe should have the grass-court wherewithal to deal with Musetti.
The Italian has a powerful serve that gets him plenty of free points. But he suffers from the same issues that plague many avowed clay-court specialists. He has a pronounced backswing on both his groundstrokes and the pace of this surface tends to rush the Italian.
Hubert Hurkacz | Christopher O’Connell
Odds TBA*
Hubert Hurkacz- the 2nd most influential Polish tennis star- actually had a real solid start to the year. He lost to Seb Korda in a super tiebreak in the 4th round of the Aussie Open. He would then go on to win his 6th career title Marseille.
But he has been poor over the last three months (especially on the clay). To be fair, the Pole has never thrived on the sticky stuff and will be licking his lips at the prospect of playing on grass. He reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships (beating Roger Federer in straight-sets in the process).
He then won his maiden grass-court title at last year’s Halle Open. He stands at nearly six-and-a-half foot and uses that height to his advantage on these surfaces. He has a powerful serve that allows him to dominate proceedings. And he also uses that formidable wingspan to cover the net brilliantly.
He did look somewhat rusty in his opening match against Watanuki. But he should feel settled now and he will be eyeing a 7th career title.
29-year-old Aussie Christopher O’Connell hasn’t enjoyed the smoothest ride in his professional tennis career. He missed almost the entirety of the 2018 campaign due to a knee injury, ending that season ranked 1185 in the world. But the Aussie has knuckled down and propelled himself to a career-high ranking of 74 in the world.
He reached the 3rd round at last year’s Aussie Open and reached his maiden ATP semi-final in San Diego. This will be the 4th quarterfinal of his season. The highlight of his year was a victory over Zverev en route to a semi-final showing in Munich. O’Connell cut his teeth on Challenger and Futures events on the European clay-courts.
He adopts a bit of a throwback approach, utilizing angles and slice as opposed to heavy baseline groundstrokes. That could make him a tricky opponent on this surface. He won’t enter this match with any fear after an exceptional win against Sonego.
Verdict: Hurkacz to win in three sets
This will be the first career meeting between these two. I was really impressed with the way O’Connell dismantled Sonego. Conversely, Hurkacz looked decidedly leggy against Watanuki. That’s why I think O’Connell has a fighting chance here. However, I think the Pole’s pure hitting power will grind down the Aussie over three sets.
