Top seed Daniil Medvedev will take on Canadian Denis Shapovalov as the third round of the Cincinnati Masters gets underway on Thursday. Top American Taylor Fritz, who beat Nick Kyrgios on Wednesday, will also be in action against Andrey Rublev.
(1) Daniil Medvedev vs. Denis Shapovalov
Daniil Medvedev still seems to be shaking off some of the form that saw him ousted from Montreal in the second round by Nick Kyrgios. The world No. 1 defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 7-5 in the second round on Tuesday, but it wasn’t a convincing performance. Mostly it was simply that the Russian played less poorly than his Dutch opponent did. Van de Zandschulp ended the match with 17 winners and a whopping 38 unforced errors.
Denis Shapovalov has been off the boil since he made the quarters in Rome. Coming into this week, he had won a single match since May–in eight tournaments entered. He may have righted the ship, though, toppling both Grigor Dimitrov and Tommy Paul so far this week.
Unfortunately for the Canadian, Medvedev isn’t likely to be an easy target. While the Russian was a little shaky in his opening match in Cincy, this is a surface he likes and a tournament he has won before.
Cheryl pick: Medvedev in 2
Ricky pick: Medvedev in 2
(11) Taylor Fritz vs. (6) Andrey Rublev
Taylor Fritz has had a great season. The world No. 13 won the Masters title in Indian Wells and put in an impressive showing at Wimbledon with a quarterfinal result, where he pushed an injured Rafael Nadal to five sets. He lost an odd match to Dan Evans in the third round last week in Montreal, but that just means he comes into Cincy relatively well-rested.
Andrey Rublev hasn’t had the most consistent year and he is showing some signs of stress. The Russian, always emotional on court, has take to hitting himself with his racket in frustration even more than usual. He had a good showing in Washington a few weeks ago and a quarterfinal result at the French Open earlier this spring, but he lost his first match in Montreal to Evans last week.
Fritz holds a slim 3-2 head-to-head edge over Rublev, but he won their last two encounters at the Paris Masters last year and Indian Wells this year. Fritz is playing the kind of solid tennis that has given Rublev difficulty, so the American should be able to build on his convincing win over Nick Kyrgios.
Cheryl pick: Fritz in 3
Ricky pick: Fritz in 2
I like Med in 2; and Fritz in 3….and hats off to Coric for a gutty win last night!