One quarter-final pick from the Mallorca Championships today, and it's an interesting one. Dimitrov is back on tour and always dangerous on grass, but Fokina has the ranking and the head-to-head working in his favor here.
Mallorca Championships Predictions
Grigor Dimitrov vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Head-to-head: Fokina leads 2-0
Dimitrov at 164 in the world tells you everything about where he is right now physically, and while he's one of those players who will always look elegant on a grass court, there's a big gap between looking good and winning matches at this level. Fokina leads their head-to-head 2-0, and neither of those losses, both coming in straight sets, will have given Dimitrov much confidence going in.
That said, grass does compress the gap between players a bit and Dimitrov's game suits the surface as well as almost anyone's. I think he'll make this competitive and might well push it to three. But Fokina is the better player right now, has the H2H, and is ranked inside the top 25 for a reason. Fokina should still find a way to get through here.
Prediction: Fokina in 3
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