Daily Tennis Tips – Thursday 22nd May

See below for our expert daily tennis tips and best bets around the courts for Thursday May 22, 2025!

Polish veteran Magda Linette faces off against fourth seed Elena Rybakina in the Internationaux de Strasbourg quarter-finals.  

Rybakina is 2-0 against Linette, winning at the 2021 Ostrava Open and on clay in 2023 Billie Jean King Cup qualifying.  

World No.33 Linette has disposed of former French Open champ Barbora Krejcikova (6-3 6-3) and Rebecca Sramkova (6-4 6-3) so far this week. The 33-year-old was coming off a win over Maria Sakkari and a loss to Coco Gauff at the Rome Masters.  

In something of a form trough, Rybakina – who has slipped to 12th in the rankings – demolished Xinyu Wang 6-1 6-3 in the first round. The 2022 Wimbledon champ and top-five staple exited in the Round of 32 in Madrid to Elina Svitolina and Rome to Bianca Andreescu.  

Rybakina – the 2020 runner-up in Strasbourg – is far better credentialled on clay, but the gritty Linette looks in good touch and should make a competitive match of this.  

Third seed Paula Badosa and eighth seed Liudmila Samsonova are vying for a spot in the Internationaux de Strasbourg semi-finals.  

Samsonova has a 3-1 record in the rivalry, but Badosa took out the pair’s most recent clash at the 2024 Citi Open.  

World No.19 Samsonova has accounted for Linda Noskova (6-1 7-5) and Diane Parry (6-4 6-4) so far, turning around a poor clay season to date: a first-up loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova in Stuttgart, a Round of 32 defeat in Madrid to Yulia Starodubtseva and a defeat to Hailey Baptiste in Rome. 

Tenth-ranked Badosa kicked off her tournament in the Round of 16 against Marie Bouzkova, who pulled out with injury during the first set. It was the Spanish star’s first hit-out since the Miami Masters with a back injury halting her sizzling 2024 and early-2025 momentum.  

Though she is the superior clay performer, Badosa’s lack of court-time is a concern here. Samsonova has been strong in Strasbourg, albeit against a lower calibre of opponent than Badosa.  

Argentine clay specialist Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Czech Jiri Lehecka square off for a spot in the Hamburg Open semi-finals.  

The head-to-head is one-all after two clay-court encounters in 2022, Etcheverry getting the win at a Challenger event in Santiago and Lehecka winning at the Gstaad Open.  

World No.55 Etcheverry has overcome a pair of compatriots so far in Hamburg: Francisco Comesana (7-6 6-3) and Camilo Ugo Carabelli (6-4 6-4). It has been an otherwise forgettable clay swing for the 25-year-old, who last won two matches in an ATP event at the Chile Open in February. 

Proving his clay-court ability by reaching the semis in Madrid last year, Lehecka has struggled for results on the red dirt this year – losing his first match in Madrid to Cameron Norrie and in Rome to Alexandre Muller.  

But the world No.37 outlasted Borna Gojo in three sets on Tuesday and beat fourth seed Franciso Cerundolo 7-5 6-2. Lehecka should parlay that improvement into claiming another South American victim.  

Aussie fifth seed Alexei Popyrin and British stalwart Cameron Norrie lock horns in the Geneva Open quarter-finals.  

Their only meeting to date was at the 2019 Atlanta Open, with Norrie winning in straight sets.  

World No.25 Popyrin made the Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals but has struggled to maintain that form on the clay swing. He downed specialist Nicolas Jarry in a first-round three-setter, however, and defeated Jacob Fearnley 6-4 6-3 as a slight underdog.  

Former top-10 star Norrie, currently languishing at 90th, won a pair of qualifiers to make the main draw here then advanced past Dominic Stricker (7-6 6-3) and third seed Tomas Machac (3-6 6-2 4-3 ret).  

Norrie boasts five ATP finals on clay for two titles, while he’s been competitive on this swing. But his heyday appears well behind him and Popyrin is the value option as only a $1.65 favourite.