On Saturday in Turin, five-time champion Novak Djokovic will face 2018 champion Sascha Zverev in a blockbuster semifinal. This will be their fifth meeting in 2021, all of which have been dramatic affairs. The other singles semifinal sees defending champion Daniil Medvedev face Casper Ruud.
The doubles semifinals will also be played on Saturday, and look to be tremendous. The top four seeds have all advanced, who have collectively claimed three of the four Major doubles titles this year.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing matchup, while highlighting the other matches on the schedule. Saturday’s play gets underway at 11:30am local time.
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Sascha Zverev (3) – Not Before 9:00pm
Djokovic leads their head-to-head 7-3, and 6-2 on hard courts. He’s also claimed three of their four matches this year. At the ATP Cup, Novak prevailed 7-5 in the third after a back-and-forth, high-quality encounter. Two weeks later in the Australian Open quarterfinals, Djokovic came back from a set down to escape in a fourth-set tiebreak. At the Tokyo Olympics, it was Zverev who stormed back from a set down, winning 10 of the last 11 games to deny Novak’s bid for a Golden Slam. A month later in the US Open semifinals, Djokovic avenged his Tokyo heartbreak in a grueling five-setter, which some attribute to why Novak appeared lethargic in the final two days later. They’ve also met three times at this tournament. Novak won both their round robin matchups, while Sascha was victorious in the 2018 final.
The 20-time Major champion went 3-0 this past week, comfortably winning his group without dropping a set. He’s currently on an eight-match win streak, dating back to his title run two weeks ago in Paris. Zverev went 2-1 in his round robin group, losing a third-set tiebreak to Medvedev by a score of 8-6. The German’s hard court run since Tokyo has been stellar, winning 30 of his last 34 matches. And his serving on this fast surface in Turin has been tremendous, striking 39 aces and only three double faults through three matches. But up against the greatest return of all-time, Zverev remains a slight underdog in what should be another competitive and compelling match between two of the world’s top three male singles players.
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Daniil Medvedev (2) vs. Casper Ruud (8) – Medvedev leads their head-to-head 2-0, having claimed all four sets contested. The Russian is the defending champion, and on an eight-match win streak at this event. Ruud is now 3-8 this season against the top 10, though as Nick Lester highlighted on Twitter, he’s taken his last 11 deciding sets.
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (1) vs. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury (2) – Ram and Salisbury were the only undefeated team in round robin play. These duos met five times in 2021, with Mektic and Pavic winning four of those five encounters.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut (3) vs. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (4) – Granollers and Zeballos are 2-0 against Herbert and Mahut this season.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
