Astana Open: Ilya Ivashka vs. James Duckworth 9/25/21 Tennis Prediction

Eighth seeded Belarusian Ilya Ivashka will face unseeded Australian James Duckworth in the Semi-Finals of the 2021 Astana Open. The match is scheduled to take place on Saturday September 25th, 2021 at 4:00am EST.

Ilya Ivashka is the number eight seed here at the 2021 Astana Open and has been one of the most improved playes on the ATP Tour this season. The Belarusian has been steadily climbing up the rankings and is seeking to win his second title of the year since stunning the field in Winston-Salem. He will face Aussie James Duckworth, a very surprising Semi-Finalist who has played some outstanding tennis this week. This match is quite evenly matched but Ivashka should be considered the favorite here due to his current form and the year that he’s having. Who will get the win and advance to the Final?

Ilya Ivashka is the eighth seed here at the 2021 Astana Open and is ranked #52 on the ATP Tour. The Belarusian has been simply outstanding this year, seemingly coming out of nowhere to win the title in Winston-Salem among other impressive performances. He has carried that form into the tournament here in Astana, defeating Elias Ymer and Timofey Skatov without dropping a set in his first two matches. Ivashka was pushed to the limit in the Quarter-Finals by Emil Ruusuvuori, dropping the first set before storming to win the next two. He has been serving very well but it is his aggressive nature on his groundstrokes that has been allowing him to dominate his opponents from the baseline. In this type of form he should definitely be considered the favorite here over James Duckworth, and will be backing himself to advance to the Final here.

James Duckworth is unseeded here at the 2021 Astana Open and is currently ranked #65 in the world rankings. He has not had much success lately on the ATP Tour, with his last result of note being a surprising run to the Round of 16 at the Canadian Open as a Qualifier. He entered this event in very poor form, losing three consecutive matches and not much was expected of him here. However, he has had the last laugh, defeating world number 37 Filip Krajinovic in the Second Round and then upsetting countryman and defending champion John Millman in straight sets in the Quarter-Final. This shows the level of tennis he is capable of, and while he is the underdog here Ilya Ivashka he is quite close to his opponent in the rankings and is in such good form he should be considered here.

This is set to be a very interesting match between two surprising Semi-Finalists. Both James Duckworth and Ilya Ivashka have been outstanding this week here at the 2021 Astana Open and fully deserve to be here. I think that it will be a very close match, but I am going with Ivashka to win here. He has just a bit more upside, and has been in better form throughout the season. Duckworth has been playing very well here but I am not sure he can be fully trusted here, and I think that he will ultimately go down here in two tight sets. Ilya Ivashka will win here, advancing to the Final here at the 2021 Astana Open.