Astana Open: Ilya Ivashka vs Emil Ruusuvuori 9/24/21 Tennis Prediction

Eighth seeded Belarusian Ilya Ivashka will meet Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland in the Quarter-Finals of the 2021 Astana Open in Kazakhstan. The match is scheduled to be played on Friday September 24th, 2021 at 2:00am EST.

Ilya Ivashka has been one of the standout performers on the ATP Tour this season and has truly rocketed up the ranking charts recently. He entered the 2021 Astana Open in fine form and has seemingly continued where he left off, winning his first two matches without many difficulties. He will face his sternest test so far in the form of Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, who is sure to give him a run for his money. This is set to be a very close and interesting match, who has what it takes to get the win and advance to the Semis?

Ilya Ivashka is the eighth seed here at the 2021 Astana Open and is ranked #52 on the ATP Tour. The Belarusian has been amazing this year to say the least, winning his first ATP title in Winston-Salem a few weeks ago among some other impressive performances. After a Third Round showing at the US Open where he lost to Matteo Berrettini in 5 tense sets he has started strongly here in Astana, defeating Elias Ymer and Timofey Skatov without dropping a set. 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. He enters this match against Emil Ruusuvuori as the favorite but knows that his opponent is a very dangerous player so he should not underestimate him here.

Emil Ruusuvuori is unseeded here at the 2021 Astana Open and is currently ranked #84 in the world. He is considered one of the brightest young talents on the ATP Tour and has been impressive at times throughout his short career, but has struggled to string consistent results together. He is also in good form, reaching the Semi-Finals at the Winston-Salem Open, losing to eventual champion and current opponent Ilya Ivashka. Like Ivashka he has started very strongly here in Astana, notably defeating top seed Aslan Karatsev in straight sets in the Round of 16. This win will have given him bags of confidence as it was the biggest win of his career, and he enters this Quarter-Final match with the belief that he can get the win here.

This will be a fascinating match and it really can go either way. While Ivashka is higher ranked and recently defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in straight sets a few weeks ago, the Finnish star is a very solid player and after his win over Karatsev in the previous round is in some serious form. I am expecting a very close match, but I am backing Ilya Ivaskha to get the win here. It will be a lot closer than the 6-1, 6-2 result in Winston-Salem, but I think he just will have enough to get by here in a classic encounter. Three sets is a possibility but Ivashka will win here, advancing to the Semi-Finals of the 2021 Astana Open.