Date/Time: Friday 8th February 2019 (Kick-off 2:00 PM CET).
On first glance I was a touch surprised that the layers had a similar number to the one I had set for this Quarter Final match in Montpellier. I was hoping that Filip Krajinovic's two wins here would have perhaps swayed them to give him a bit more a chance to upset Tomas Berdych, but the Czech player has the bigger name and so it is perhaps less than surprising than I first imagined.
Either way this is the number I was happy to back Berdych at as he continues his return to the Tour following an injury-hit 2018 which has seen him slip down the World Rankings. There is a chance his current Ranking could take another decline over the next couple of months if Berdych is not able to settle back onto the Tour as he likes, but so far 2019 has seen playing some of his better tennis and his run here will help.
Tomas Berdych is a comfortable player on the indoor hard courts, but he will be looking to get a little more out of his serve. So far in this tournament he has held at just over 81% of his service games and his overall service numbers are some way down on what he has been producing on the hard courts in 2019.
However Berdych has been backed up by some strong returning and he is going to need that aspect of his game working to the best possible level. In this Quarter Final Berdych is facing an opponent who has yet to have his serve broken, but Filip Krajinovic has generally not been able to find the level he produced against David Goffin on a consistent basis.
In the last couple of years Krajinovic has only held less than 80% of his service games played on the hard courts against opponents Ranked in the top 100 of the World Rankings. That part of his game should be challenged by Berdych in his form in this tournament as well as how he has been able to return on the hard courts in the last couple of years. He has found a way to break at around the 28% mark and I do think Berdych will be able to find the majority of break points in this one.
Filip Krajinovic is clearly enjoying the tournament here, but I think Berdych will be able to find a break more than him in each of the first two sets played and he can cover the spread in this one.
Prediction: Tomas Berdych - 3.5 games
T&Cs apply.
