Despite Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal, the top quarter of the Cincinnati draw is still absolutely loaded. Third-round action on Thursday includes intriguing showdowns featuring Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Denis Shapovalov, and Milos Raonic.
(10) Novak Djokovic vs. (5) Grigor Dimitrov
Djokovic and Dimitrov will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers when they battle for a place in the Western & Southern Open quarterfinals on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at a commanding 7-1 in favor of Djokovic, who is 4-0 against Dimitrov on hard courts, 8-1 in total sets during those matches, and has won five in a row overall at the Bulgarian’s expense dating back to the 2013 French Open. They most recently faced each other this summer at Queen’s Club, where the Serb cruised 6-4, 6-1.
After finishing runner-up at Queen’s Club, Djokovic took his comeback to new heights in the form of his fourth Wimbledon title. The world No. 10 endured a minor and potentially only brief step back with an early Toronto loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas, but so far in Cincinnati he has defeated Steve Johnson and Adrian Mannarino. Dimitrov, who is the defending champion of this Masters 1000 event, followed up a first-round bye with a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over Mischa Zverev on Wednesday night. Still, the fifth seed is a disappointing 22-14 in 2018 and his inconsistency will likely cost him against an opponent whose combination of defense and offense is just about as good as it gets.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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Milos Raonic vs. Denis Shapovalov
The other third-rounder in the top quarter of the bracket is an all-unseeded affair, but it is not an unexpected one based on Rafael Nadal’s absence. Raonic faced lucky loser Malek Jaziri instead of Nadal in the second round and got the job done 6-3, 7-5, setting up a all-Canadian contest against Shapovalov. The 27-year-old preceded that result by beating Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-3, helping him improve to an abbreviated 23-9 for what has been another injury-plagued season.
Shapovalov leads the head-to-head series 1-0, having won their only previous encounter 6-4, 6-4 earlier in 2018 on the red clay of Madrid. The 19-year-old has not done anything overly spectacular like he did at this time last season, but consistent results are allowing him to defend plenty of his points and should have him seeded for the upcoming U.S. Open. Shapovalov reached the third round in Washington, D.C. and Toronto and he has done the same in Cincinnati with defeats of Frances Tiafoe and Kyle Edmund. The pressure is once again on Raonic in this matchup against his much younger compatriot, and Shapovalov also has a slight edge in current form.
Pick: Shapovalov in 3
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That was tough but Nole got it. But now he has to play Raonic without too much rest…unless we get more RAIN.
And Delpo is through 😀
LOL Fed 6-1 in a hurry to get done. At least he gets two matches between his first and second.
Nole only gets one match rest, and based on the first set, barely an hour of rest if he’s lucky. Nole will have nothing left for Raonic.
(Federer for the wins obviously and the title for that matter NID as predicted congrats to me.)
Why does he need rest ? he played for less than half an hour today. I feel he would win.
Why isn’t he playing now as scheduled?
The way these players are playing, Djoko even when playing poorly by his standard, would still be able to reach the final here!
Dimi is horrible, Raonic is struggling to hold serve in his first service game against Djoko! Cilic is now a break down to PCB (PCB on a quick HC??) and PCB serving for the first set. Are we having a PCB vs Djoko SF? PCB is easy meat for Djoko to reach the final!
Raonic is beyond horrible, needs 14 mins to hold his first service game! What happen to his big serve these days? Not looking formidable since his injury comeback.
Novak v Milos was too hard for me to watch. Maybe I missed some good tennis but every time I tuned in…Nole was in trouble and I couldn’t take it. I’m surprised he won.
Its really a joke, that we’ve had two back to back Masters , one even starting before the other finished, so close to the last major of the year .
Same deal with Roland Garros. Yet the ATP can’t spare even one masters as tune ups before Wimbly and AO. The tennis schedule makes no sense whatsoever and gutting Davis Cup isn’t going to fix it.
Agree, they could lose one clay masters before the French and one of Canada/Cinci, to keep it sensible. Long overdue a grass Masters .