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Shanghai Masters quarterfinal picks and predictions: Best bets on Auger-Aliassime vs. Rinderkneck, de Minaur vs. Medvedev

One Canadian takes part in the quarterfinal at the Shanghai Masters on Friday morning.

The pre-match narrative: Felix Auger-Aliassime is playing his best tennis right now, and I’ll continue to back him to dominate lower-ranked competitors. In the other QF on Friday, Alex de Minaur and Daniil Medvedev meet for the 12th time in their careers.

Check out my top Shanghai Masters predictions for the quarterfinal.

Shanghai Masters predictions: Quarterfinal

Best Bet: Auger-Aliassime -1.5 sets (-120)

The Canadian is on an absolute tear.

He’s 11-2 in his last 13 matches, with both losses coming against Jannik Sinner.

One of those wins was over his quarterfinal opponent, Artur Rinderkneck, at the U.S. Open.

Auger-Aliassime was battering his counterpart before the Frenchman retired down big in the third set.

That makes him 2-0 in this matchup in 2025. He won all four completed sets and was on his way to winning the fifth before Rinderkneck’s retirement.

Auger-Aliassime is having an incredible hard-court season. He’s 29-9 on the playing surface and has won all three matches and the Shanghai Masters in straight sets.

He holds the advantage in the head-to-head matchup and is simply the better player.

Rinderkneck owns a below .500 record in 2025 (29-31). It is worth noting, however, that he has three quality wins at this event, including knocking off the world No. 3 Alexander Zverev.

But Zverev is in a rough patch. He’s lost five of his past eight, which includes being eliminated by Auger-Aliassime at the U.S. Open.

That victory isn’t enough to convince me Rinderkneck has what it takes to be competitive with Auger-Aliassime on hard courts.

Key stat: Rinderkneck has a pitiful 12-14 record on the playing surface in 2025.

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Tennis best bet: de Minaur vs. Medvedev

de Minaur -3 games (-112): Medvedev has turned a corner late in the season. He is 33-20 in 2025, which is on pace to be his worst yearly record since 2017.

But at the end of August, he got a new coach, and the results have been promising. Medvedev has won seven of nine matches since the change.

But I think he’s met his match in the quarterfinal.

de Minaur is arguably the hottest player on tour. He is an incredible 50-18 record in 2025 and is 30-10 on hard courts.

The Australian has won 16 of his past 19 matches and has yet to lose a set at the Shanghai Masters.

Medvedev has the head-to-head edge here, winning seven of the 11 matches between these two.

But it was de Minaur who had the last laugh. He’s played Medvedev once in 2025 and smoked him in straight sets (6-2, 6-2).

Tennis predictions made at 11:09 a.m. on 10/09/2025.

NHL best bets and predictions Oct. 9: Back Kirill Marchenko to find the score sheet

The NHL season is underway, and Thursday provides a hefty 14-game slate to look at.

The pregame narrative: The Columbus Blue Jackets make their season debut against the Nashville Predators and I have my sights set on top forward Kirill Marchenko. Elsewhere, two Western Conference powerhouses, the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets, battle to begin their seasons.

Check out my NHL predictions for Oct. 9.

NHL predictions: Best bet

Best bet: Marchenko to score 1+ points (-138)

Marchenko is a stud, and he has improved significantly each year of his career.

Year 1: 59 games, 25 points
Year 2: 78 games, 42 points
Year 3: 79 games, 74 points

At 25 years old, there is no reason to expect anything but a similar season or even an uptick in production.

He plays close to 20 minutes a night and plays top power-play minutes. He scored 19 PP points last season, which ranked second on the team behind Zach Werenski.

Marchenko slots in beside Werenski on the blueline with the man advantage.

He gets a lot of offensive zone touches and has a nice matchup to start the season.

The Preds were dreadful last year. They finished second last in the Atlantic Division with a -60 goal differential.

Nashville allowed the sixth-most goals per game in 2024-25 (3.3).

This isn’t usually a price I’d play on a points prop, but there’s a lot of value getting behind a point-per-game scorer against a shaky defensive unit.

Key stat: Marchenko scored five points in two games against the Predators last season.

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NHL player prop

Stars/Jets under 5.5 goals (-11): Neither team has played yet this season, but there’s plenty of reason to buy into the defensive upside.

Winnipeg allowed the fewest goals against last year, and was the only team to concede fewer than 200 overall (190).

Dallas wasn’t far behind, allowing the sixth fewest goals against per game.

It starts with goaltending, and both teams have a Vezina-calibre goalie between the pipes.

Connor Hellebuyck is coming off one of the best seasons ever for the position. He had a 2.01 GAA and won his second straight Vezina while adding a Hart Trophy to his collection.

Opposite him is Jake Oettinger. He is always in the conversation and has recorded a better than a .900 SV% in all five of his NHL seasons.

Plus, Dallas will be fully healthy ahead of his contest, which was a rare occurrence last season. Star defenceman Miro Heiskanen missed a career high 32 games in 2024-25.

NHL predictions made at 9:26 a.m. ET on 10/09/2025.