It’s been a great week so far in the 2023 Cinch Championships from Queen’s Club, London. A notable absence from the list of attendees was world number one Novak Djokovic.
Despite Djokovic not visiting Queen’s Club this year, it’s been a fascinating tournament already. Here, we’ll preview the competition’s quarter-final stage in the hopes we can find you the eventual winner. Read on for more.
Able deputy
World number 2 Carlos Alcaraz came into this one as the favourite to win the entire tournament. The Spaniard made it all the way to the final of the French Open, but was agonisingly beaten by Djokovic. That will no doubt still be raw for the young talent and he can take this tournament on his way to bigger things this summer.
Alcaraz already has a US Open title under his belt and will no doubt go on to win countless Grand Slams in his career. This would be another feather in his cap and he faces Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals stage on Friday. The Spaniard is in fine form and despite only meeting Dimitrov twice, he has a perfect 2-0 record. He’s expected to win this tie and go on to win the tournament.
Home hero
Cam Norrie has stepped up as the home hero after Andy Murray was knocked out in the first round of the tournament. Norrie takes on Sebastian Korda in the quarters in the first meeting on grass between the two. American Korda leads the head to heads 2-1, but Norrie won the most recent clash at Delray Beach. It will be tight, but Norrie can just edge it with home advantage and is expected to take on Alcaraz in the semis.
One of the ties of the round sees Italian Lorenzo Musetti take on Danish counterpart Holger Rune. Both players have had almost flawless runs up to this point and both of them have knocked out a Brit, so neither will be popular with the crowd. This is the first meeting between these two, so there’s no head to head record to consult. Rune is definitely capable of going on to win this tournament and he gets our vote.
Good opportunity
Alex De Minaur knocked Andy Murray out in the first round of this and takes on Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the quarters here. These two have met on four occasions, with De Minaur leading the head to head 3-1. Interestingly, that one Mannarino win was the only other time they have played each other on grass. The Aussie has the better form though and can progress to the next round.
Being on the other side of the draw from the favourite represents a good opportunity for De Minaur, Mannarino, Musetti and Rune. Of those, we’re expecting a De Minaur and Rune semi-final, the Dane is most likely to progress from that and face up with Alcaraz in the final. At that point, we’d expect the Spaniard to win and retake his place as number one.