U.S. Open R3 previews and predictions: Tiafoe vs. Fucsovics, Khachanov vs. de Minaur

American Frances Tiafoe will take the court against Marton Fucsovics of Hungary for a spot in the U.S. Open round of 16. Karen Khachanov and Alex de Minaur will also be in action on Saturday.

Frances Tiafoe vs. Marton Fucsovics

American Frances Tiafoe has worked hard to earn his spot in the third round. The world No. 82 has spent seven hours on court so far against Andreas Seppi and then a five-setter in the second round over Australian John Millman. Saturday will mark Tiafoe’s best result ever at the U.S. Open, as the best he had managed was the second round in 2018 and 2019.

Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics has had some promising results in 2020 at the 2 majors that have been held so far. He advanced to the round of 16 in Melbourne before the COVID-19 hiatus and he has a good chance this weekend to at least match that result, though fatigue may be a factor for the rest of the tournament, as he spent nearly five hours in his upset win over Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.

Fucsovics owns a 2-0 record over Tiafoe. The two men met as recently as January of this year, when Fucsovics won in three. The Hungarian played well in Cincinnati last week. He came through qualies to make the round of 16–where he fell to Filip Krajinovic. For his part, Tiafoe failed to win a single match in Cincy last week.

Fucsovics has been far more consistent of the two men and he seems to be on a roll. Tiafoe plays with heart and he will put up a fight, but Fucsovics is the clear favorite.

Cheryl pick: Fucsovics in 3

Ricky pick: Fucsovics in 4

(11) Karen Khachanov vs. (21) Alex de Minaur

This will be the first meeting between Karen Khachanov and Aussie Alex de Minaur. Roughly a year ago, Khachanov was ranked No. 8 in the world, but a lackluster start to the 2020 season has caused the Russian’s ranking dip to No. 16.

Khachanov weathered a stiff test in the first round this week from Italian teenager Jannick Sinner, who pushed him to a tiebreaker in the fifth set. But his second round against countryman Andrey Kuznetsov was fairly routine.

Alex de Minaur, the world No. 28, has had a mediocre start to the 2020 season. Even with his two wins this week, he is a disappointing 4-4 on the season. He earned his spot in the third round with wins over Andrej Martin and the French veteran Richard Gasquet.

Though both players have been spotty recently, Khachanov seems to be the more solid and consistent of the two players. De Minaur might sneak a set, but Khachanov should find his way to the round of 16.

Cheryl pick: Khachanov in 4

Ricky pick: Khachanov in 4