Greg Rusedski believes Stefanos Tsitsipas will knock Rafael Nadal out of the ATP Finals and set-up a semi-final showdown with six-time champion Roger Federer.
20-time Grand Slam champion Federer defied the odds to advance to the knockout stages with a hugely impressive 6-4 6-3 win over world number two Novak Djokovic on Thursday evening.
The 38-year-old will now play the winner of Spanish legend Nadal and Greek sensation Tsitsipas in Saturday’s semi-final.
Nadal recovered from an opening defeat to Alexander Zverev to beat Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday, while Tsitsipas secured victories over Medvedev and Zverev to put himself in a strong position to qualify.
19-time Grand Slam champion Nadal is still searching for his first ATP Finals win but former British number one Rusedski believes his 2019 campaign will be ended by Tsitsipas.
Looking ahead to the final two group games on Friday, Rusedski told Amazon: ‘I think Stefanos Tsitsipas has been the man of the moment. I think he will have too much firepower for Rafael Nadal.
‘It will be intriguing because Nadal – like all great champions – will lift his game for a must-win match. But I’m going for Tsitsipas in that one and Daniil Medvedev to beat Alexander Zverev tomorrow.’
Federer, meanwhile, admitted he played ‘incredible’ during his impressive victory over Djokovic at the O2 Arena in London.
‘It was incredibly special,’ he said. ‘I played incredible and I knew I had to because that’s what Novak does. It was definitely magical.’
