Italian Open 2024: Hubert Hurkacz vs Tommy Paul preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick
Match Details
Fixture: (7) Hubert Hurkacz vs (14) Tommy Paul
Date: May 16, 2024
Tournament: Italian Open 2024
Round: Quarterfinal
Venue: Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
Category: ATP Masters 1000
Surface: Clay
Prize money: £7,877,020
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN2
Hubert Hurkacz vs Tommy Paul preview
Seventh seed Hubert Hurkacz will take on Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Italian Open on Thursday.
Hurkacz ousted Rafael Nadal and Tomas Martin Etcheverry to reach the fourth round, where he faced Sebastian Baez. The Pole rallied from a break down to even the score in the first set. However, he stumbled towards the end as his opponent bagged the last three games to claim the set.
Hurkacz fell behind in the second set as well but this time he fought back to capture the set, coming out on top in the eventual tie-break. The shift in momentum was quite evident, and he dictated the play in the third set to beat Baez 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Paul secured wins over Aslan Karatsev and Dominik Koepfer to book a fourth-round date with defending champion Daniil Medvedev. The American was too good for his opponent in the opening set as he clinched it for the loss of only one game.
It appeared as if Medvedev would make a match out of the contest after going 2-0 up in the second set. However, Paul had other ideas as he bagged the next four games to lead 4-2. He remained in front until the end to register a 6-1, 6-4 win.
Hubert Hurkacz vs Tommy Paul head-to-head
The two have split their previous couple of meetings evenly to tie the head-to-head at 1-1. Paul won their most recent encounter at the 2023 Indian Wells Masters in three sets.
Hubert Hurkacz vs Tommy Paul odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Hubert Hurkacz vs Tommy Paul prediction
Hurkacz continued his career-best clay season with an impressive comeback win over Baez. He rained down 17 aces and hit a total of 45 winners in the previous round.
Hurkacz has already won 11 matches on the surface this year, the most he has in a single season. He had a losing record on clay before this year but has improved his 23-25 record on the surface to 34-27.
Paul has been in good form as well in Rome and put an end to Medvedev's title defense in the last round. He has now reached his biggest career quarterfinal on clay.
Hurkacz's big serve often tilts plenty of matches in his favor, and it's likely to be no different against Paul. The latter is no slouch when it comes to serving but it's quite difficult to outdo the Pole on serve.
Hurkacz captured his first ATP title on clay last month. His improvement on the surface has been quite impressive, and as such makes him the slight favorite heading into this encounter.
Pick: Hubert Hurkacz to win in three sets.