Doha has seen a surprising number of upsets this week with Tomas Berdych, Andy Murray, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco all being knocked out in the first two rounds.  The quarter-finals has a distinctively German feel to it with four German players left in the tournament.

Rafael Nadal v Ernests Gulbis (ATP Doha, QF)

The match of the day for Thursday, which is the only one not to feature a German player, will see the number one seed, Rafael Nadal play Ernests Gulbis.  Nadal has struggled this week and he was pushed to three sets today against an inspired, Tobias Kamke, 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3.  Gulbis has made the quarter-finals this week with three set wins over Dan Evans and Lukasz Kubot.  This could arguably be Nadal’s toughest match of the week as Gulbis has given him a rough ride on many occasions.  Nadal does have 6-0 head-to-head lead, but Gulbis has a won a set in five of those matches.  Their encounter in Indian Wells last year was a particular highlight (see video below) so I have high hopes this will be another entertaining one.  It would be a real talking point if Gulbis could beat Nadal.  The Spaniard has shown with his performance today that he is definitely vulnerable…

Prediction: Nadal to beat Gulbis in 3 sets

Highlights from a terrific match that Nadal and Gulbis played in Indian Wells last year.

ATP Doha Quarter-Final Predictions

Dustin Brown to beat Peter Gojowczyk in 3 sets

Florian Mayer to beat Victor Hanescu in 2 sets

Daniel Brands to beat Gael Monfils in 3 sets

ATP Brisbane 2nd Round Predictions

Kevin Anderson to beat Sam Groth in 2 tight sets

Nicolas Mahut to beat Jeremy Chardy in 3 sets

Lleyton Hewitt to beat Feliciano Lopez in 2 sets

Gilles Simon to beat Marius Copil in 2 tight sets

ATP Chennai 2nd Round Predictions

Fabio Fognini to beat Yuki Bhambri in 3 sets

Vasek Pospisil to beat Yen-Hsun Lu in 2 tight sets

Marcel Granollers to beat Ramkumar Ramanathan in 2 sets

Benoit Paire to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in 3 sets