2016 ATP World Tour Finals round robin tips: Raonic to edge Thiem in shootout for semis
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ATP World Tour Finals group tips
Defending ATP World Tour Finals champion Novak Djokovic became the first person to reach the semis after his narrow victory over Milos Raonic in the Ivan Lendl Group, but now the Canadian and Dominic Thiem face a straight shootout to join him.
The Serb faces already eliminated Gael Monfils in the other duel on Thursday, while Friday sees Andy Murray take on Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori face Marin Cilic.
Ahead of the final group matches, Coral tennis experts give their latest ATP World Tour Finals group tips for November 17 and 18…
Tie-break in Djokovic v Monfils match
Djokovic has had to come through two tricky fixtures to progress to the knockout rounds, most recently against Raonic as he edged him 7-6 7-6.
The new ATP world number two now takes on winless Monfils, who he’s beaten in each of their last 12 meetings after losing their first encounter.
However, the duo have been involved in a number of tie-breaks in recent years – four in their last five matches to be exact.
And with Djokovic (5/4 tournament second-favourite) already having played out two against Raonic and one against Thiem, back another 7-6 set scoreline to occur in this tussle too at a tasty 2/1 price.
Raonic to edge Thiem in three sets
This winner-takes-all match promises to be an intriguing affair, with both youngsters destined to be Grand Slam champions in future – perhaps when the likes of Murray and Djokovic eventually decline.
Raonic and Thiem have met just once before, which came in this year’s Cincinnati Masters in the quarter-finals.
The big-serving Canadian was a convincing 2-0 victor that day, which is why he is 2/5 odds-on favourite to defeat the Belgian again, but it should be a much closer occasion this time.
Back Raonic, therefore, at 11/4 to come through in three sets, to book himself in the ATP World Tour Finals semis for the first time in his career.
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