Nadal vs Navone, Auger-Aliassime vs Berrettini

Rafael Nadal continues his Bastad campaign when he takes on Mariano Navone in the quarterfinals on Friday. Gstaad features an impressive series of quarterfinal matches, including Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Matteo Berrettini.

Nordea Open: (World Championship) Rafael Nadal vs. (4) Mariano Navone

Nadal is playing his fifth clay-court tournament of his 2024 comeback and has started strongly in Bastad. The 38-year-old Spaniard did not lose a set against Leo Borg or Cameron Norrie and no set was more exciting than 6-4. This is Nadal’s first quarter-final since January in Brisbane (lost to Jordan Thompson), but he did at least reach the fourth round at the Madrid Masters.

Nadal will face Navone for the first time on Friday. The 23-year-old Argentine has never played a tour-level match before, but is now 14-11 this season and ranked 36th. Navone, a two-time ATP runner-up (Rio de Janeiro, Bucharest), received an opening bye this week and went on to defeat Sumit Nagal 6-4, 6-2. While Nadal is probably considered the favorite, you never know what he’s going to bring to the table on any given day at this point in his career. The former world No. 1 will have to be at his best if he wants to beat a clay-court opponent of Navone’s caliber.

Choice: Navone in 3

Swiss Open Gstaad: (3) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (6) Matteo Berrettini

Auger-Aliassime and Berrettini will face each other for the seventh time in their careers in the quarterfinals of Gstaad on Friday. The series stands at 4-2 in favor of Berrettini, who is 2-0 on grass, 2-0 indoors and 0-2 on hardcourt outdoors.

As that data suggests, the surface will generally determine the outcome of this matchup. While clay appears to favor Auger-Aliassime (at least compared to grass), Berrettini has had plenty of good results on the surface over the years and has been effective on it in 2024. The 82nd-ranked Italian captured the title in Marrakech this spring and followed up in Gstaad with straight-sets wins over Pedro Cachin and Daniel Elahi Galan. Auger-Aliassime did well to beat Yannick Hanfmann on Thursday, but the 23-year-old Canadian has been the better of the lot this season and Berrettini is a far more dangerous opponent.

Choice: Berrettini in 3