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ATP Cup: Current state of play
The Group Stages of the ATP Cup are almost over, so who will be heading to Sydney?
The ATP Cup group stages are almost over, running until Wednesday 8 January in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.
The Finals will then be held in Sydney from Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 January.
At the end of their three matches, the top-placed nation in each of the six groups will progress. The top two, second-placed countries will also advance to the Finals in Sydney.
Who’s going through to the ATP Cup finals?
Brisbane
In Group F, Australia are already through and will be heading to Sydney. They will face Greece today (Tuesday 7 January), with Stefanos Tsitsipas ready to take on Alex De Minaur.
Canada and Germany will also face off today (Tuesday 7 January) with Canada still a chance to take a second-placed Finals position.
The top singles match here sees world number seven Alex Zverev face number 14 Denis Shapovalov.
Our pick: Australia is through.
Alex De Minaur has been sensational thus far.
Group A sees Serbia progress to Sydney, already winning their opening two ties. Djokovic’s team will face Chile tomorrow (Wednesday 8 January) in Brisbane, before Gael Monfils’ France face Kevin Anderson’s South Africa in the later clash.
Our pick: Serbia is through.
Serbia are already through.
Sydney
In Group C, Bulgaria head into today’s (Tuesday 7 January) action in the box seat. Grigor Dimitrov’s side just need to get passed David Goffin’s Belgium to seal their Finals berth.
Our pick: Great Britain should upset Moldova, but a Belgian win could throw the whole group into disarray. We’re backing Bulgaria to progress.
Can Bulgaria go all the way?
Group E sees Croatia in pole position at 2-0, but Marin Cilic and Borna Coric will still need to overcome an Argentinian outfit featuring Guido Pella and Diego Schwartzman.
Austria sits at 1-1, led by world number four Dominic Thiem, as they face Poland. A win puts them in contention but will still be sweating on the results of the other match.
Both matches will be held in Sydney tomorrow (Wednesday 8 January).
Our pick: Croatia should get the job done.
Perth
In Group D, Russia and Norway remain in contention.
A win for Russia today (Tuesday 7 January) will get them through, and with two top 20 players in Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khacahnov, there is no reason they can’t knock off Norway.
A Norway upset is still unlikely to get them over the line, currently sitting at 1-1.
Fabio Fognini’s Italy will today take on the USA, led by big-serving John Isner.
Our pick: Russia should progress comfortably.
In Group B, Spain and Japan will fight it out for the top spot (Wednesday 8 January), with both currently sitting at 2-0. World number one Rafa Nadal has been in blistering form throughout the tournament, and coupled with number nine Roberto Bautista Agut, the Spaniards should get the job done.
Elsewhere in the group, Georgia will face Uruguay in tomorrow’s evening session (Wednesday 8 January).
Our pick: Spain should overcome Japan to progress.
The world number 1 is primed for another huge year.
Which second-placed teams will progress to the ATP Cup finals?
With the top two second-placed teams also progressing to the Finals in Sydney, it is anyone’s guess how the final two Group Stage days will pan out.
Provided they fall to Spain as expected, Japan will still be the most likely to progress, currently sitting at 2-0 in ties won with a 5-1 match win/loss record.
After that it becomes increasingly difficult to predict, with several teams at a tied record of 1-1 and a win/loss record sitting at 3-3, including South Africa, France, Great Britain, Canada, Norway, and Austria. This sets up an intense end to the Group stage.
Our picks: If we were to opt for two, Japan is best placed to progress.
Austria and Great Britain are arguably next best positioned, with both hoping for a clean sweep in the next tie (facing Poland and Moldova respectively), but we will back in Dennis Novak and Dominic Thiem to get the job for Austria to progress and stay in Sydney for a little longer.
You can grab tickets to the ATP Cup’s final two days of the Group Stage in Brisbane and Sydney now, or the Finals in Sydney (Thursday 9- Sunday 12 January) from Ticketmaster.com.au.
