Top two seeds Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner have intriguing first-round matchups on their hands at the ATP 500 in Vienna. Medvedev is going up against Arthur Fils on Wednesday, while Sinner runs into Ben Shelton.
Ben Shelton vs. (2) Jannik Sinner
Sinner and Shelton will be squaring off for the second time in their careers and for the second time this fall when they meet again in round one of the Erste Bank Open on Wednesday. They just faced each other at the Shanghai Masters, where Shelton pulled off a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) upset to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
That is part of an amazing hot streak for Shelton that has him up to No. 15 in the world. The 21-year-old American also made a run to the U.S. Open semifinals and he is coming off the first ATP title of his career this past week in Tokyo. Of course, Sinner is in incredible form, himself. The 22-year-old Italian is 51-14 this season, ranked fourth, and has already clinched a place in the Nitto ATP Finals. Sinner has always thrived indoors and he basically has home-court advantage in Austria. Combine that with the revenge factor and the fact that Shelton has to be fatigued both mentally and physically and the result should be a victory for Vienna’s No. 2 seed.
Pick: Sinner in 2
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(1) Daniil Medvedev vs. Arthur Fils
Like Shelton, Fils may be running on fumes to some extent heading into this Vienna event. The 19-year-old Frenchman could not finish off his week in championship fashion like Shelton did, but a runner-up result in Antwerp was nonetheless impressive (Fils defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semis before falling to Alexander Bublik in the final).
The world No. 38 better be ready to rock and roll in Vienna because battling Medvedev is generally one of the toughest physical tests in tennis. Medvedev is always happy to play long rallies and rarely gives away free points. Knowing he is facing a fatigued opponent, the third-ranked Russian will surely go into his typical lockdown mode and get ball after ball back in play. It has worked for him throughout this season to the tune of a 60-14 record and five titles–including his two most recent triumphs at the Masters 1000 level (Miami and Rome). There should be plenty of entertaining points in this one, but for the most part it projects to be one-way traffic for Medvedev.
Pick: Medvedev in 2
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