Last Updated on October 30, 2021
This will certainly be an interesting edition of the Citi Open in Washington, the Atp 500 tournament that precedes the U.S. Masters Series tournaments held on the hard courts. There is no shortage of interest for several reasons: first of all, the return of Rafael Nadal and the title defense by Nick Kyrgios, the 2019 champion, since the tournament was not held in 2020.
Let’s see what we can expect in the quarterfinals and which players to watch.
First quarterfinal: Nadal vs. Norrie
In the first quarter of the scoreboard, all eyes are on Rafael Nadal. Playing here are world number three, who is the top seed, Cameron Norrie (7), Alexander Bublik (9) and Lloyd Harris (14). Although Rafa has been away for a long time and has only brought home two tournaments this year (Barcelona and Rome, both on clay), we think he could easily reach the quarterfinals, and Cameron Norrie could be his main rival.
Second quarterfinal: Fritz vs. Kyrgios
There is no shortage of strong tennis players on the scoreboard in the second quarter. Grigor Dimitrov (4), Daniel Evans (6), Taylor Fritz (10) and Benoit Paire (13) are the top seeds. But there’s also Nick Kyrgios, who was left out of the seeding. Meanwhile, mark your calendar first for a potential second-round matchup between Kyrgios and Paire, which alone is worth the price of admission. But as for this quadrant, we want to bet on Taylor Fritz, who did great in Atlanta, and the Australian, who has already won this tournament and has already shown that if he’s okay, he can play anyone.
Third quarterfinal: Sinner vs. De Minaur
The third quarterfinal is the one that Italian fans need to watch the most. After a disappointing loss in Atlanta in the first round, Jannick Sinner returns to the court and has every chance to look confidently to the future. It will be a NextGen part with Alex De Minaur (No. 3 seed), Jannick (5), Sebastian Korda (12) and Miomir Kecmanovic (15).
Fourth quarterfinal: Auger Aliassime vs. Millman
The fourth quarter is perhaps the least exciting section of the tournament stack, at least at the name level. The seeded players are Felix-Auger Aliassime (2), Reilly Opelka (8) John Millman (11) and Francis Tiafoe (16). In the quarterfinals against Auger-Aliassime, Millman has a better chance than the current Opelka.
