Daily Tennis Tips – Wednesday 21st May

See below for our expert daily tennis tips and best bets around the courts for Wednesday May 21, 2025!

Geneva Open top seed Taylor Fritz takes on Frenchman Quentin Halys in the Round of 16.

World No.4 Fritz received a first-round bye as he looks to bounce back from an opening assignment loss to Marcos Giron at the Rome Masters. He was halted in Madrid by Casper Ruud in the Round of 16 after wins over Chris O’Connell and Benjamin Bonzi.

The big-serving American has traditionally struggled on clay but enjoyed an excellent swing in 2024, reaching the semis in Madrid and quarters in Rome, reaching the Bavarian Open final and getting to the fourth round of the French Open.

Halys has risen to a career-high No.50, despite an underwhelming clay swing so far. A run to the Dubai Championships semis – including an upset of Andrey Rublev – is his best result of 2025.

He outlasted Jaume Munar 4-6 6-3 7-5 in the first round. The veteran reached his only ATP final last year at the clay-court Swiss Open.

But Fritz should be far too strong here if he’s anywhere near his top level.

Aussie Alexei Popyrin has emerged from a tough opening assignment at the Geneva Open to take on Brit Jacob Fearnley in the Round of 16.

World No.25 Popyrin saw off clay specialist and 2023 champion Nicolas Jarry 6-4 3-6 7-5 on Sunday. He lost to Alexander Bublik first-up in Madrid, while he went down to Daniil Medvedev in the Round of 32 in Rome after beating Carlos Taberner.

Fearnley also defeated a noted clay-courter, in much more convincing fashion, via a 6-4 6-1 victory over Dusan Lajovic.

The 23-year-old climbed to a career-high No.54 after some handy performances in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, beating the likes of Roberto Carballes Baena, Tomas Machac and Fabio Fognini.

The market can barely split the duo, but Popyrin has a clay-court title to his name (2023 Croatia Open) and has the higher ceiling.

Second seed Emma Navarro confronts 2023 runner-up Anna Blinkova in the Internationaux de Strasbourg’s Round of 16.

Blinkova leads this head-to-head 2-1, bookending Navarro’s US Open first-round obliteration last year with victories in the Strasbourg quarter-finals in 2023 and the Hong Kong Open in October.

World No.9 Navarro is a modest 5-4 on this clay swing, beating Maya Joint in Madrid and Kamilla Rakhimova in Rome, but losing to Donna Vekic and Clara Tauson, respectively.

Blinkova, currently 65th, battled her way through qualifying over the weekend before overcoming Magdalena Frech 6-3 7-5 in the first round. She was 1-4 in main draw matches during this swing, losing to Hailey Baptiste in the first round in Rome.

Navarro isn’t exactly setting the clay courts on fire, however, and might struggle to cover a big line against the classy Russian.

Top seed Jessica Pegula gets her Internationaux de Strasbourg tilt underway against Anna Kalinskaya in the Round of 16.

Pegula boasts a 3-0 record against Kalinskaya, including wins in last year’s Berlin Ladies Open final and the Miami Masters earlier this season. All three matches went to three sets.

It’s been a modest period for the world No.3 since taking out her first clay-court title at the Charleston Open, Pegula exiting in the Round of 32 in Madrid (to Moyuka Uchijima) and Rome (to Elise Mertens).

Kaliskaya climbed to No.11 late last season but has dropped back to 28th. She outlasted Caroline Dolehide 6-2 4-6 6-3 in the first round yesterday.

The 26-year-old upset Madison Keys in Charleston but lost to the Australian Open champ in Madrid, then crashed out heavily to Peyton Stearns in her opening Rome Masters assignment.

This shapes as a more straightforward win for Pegula this time.