Seeds Frances Tiafoe and and Grigor Dimitrov will be looking for spots in the Washington, D.C. quarterfinals on Thursday. Tiafoe is going up against Jungcheng Shang, while Dimitrov is facing Emil Ruusuvuori.
(5) Grigor Dimitrov vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
Dimitrov and Ruusuvuori will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the third time this season when they meet again in round three of the Citi Open on Thursday afternoon. Both of their previous encounters have gone the way of Dimitrov, who prevailed 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4 at the French Open and 6-2, 6-4 at Queen’s Club.
There is no reason to think anything will change as the 33-year-old Bulgarian goes for the clean sweep on three different surfaces. Dimitrov has been in stellar form (runner-up in Geneva, fourth round at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon) and he improved to 24-13 this season with a 7-6(6), 6-2 defeat of Mackenzie McDonald in the Washington second round. Ruusuvuori is coming off a tough three-setter against Yoshihito Nishioka and a step up in competition against an opponent who has owned him will likely result in the end of the Finn’s week.
Pick: Dimitrov in 2
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(Q) Juncheng Shang vs. (2) Frances Tiafoe
Shang appears to be on his way to being one of the tour’s breakout stars in 2023. The 18-year-old from China has earned all four of his ATP-level match victories this season and he will break into the top 150 of the rankings if he wins on Thursday. Two of those wins have come in Washington, D.C., where he punched his ticket to the last 16 by beating Emilio Gomez and Ben Shelton.
Unfortunately for Shang, he has a tough test in front of him. Tiafoe trounced him 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 in the Australian Open second round and now the 10th-ranked American has home-court advantage–not just because he is in the United States, but he also grew up in the D.C. area. A recent ATP champion in Stuttgart, Tiafoe opened this week with a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) victory over Aslan Karatsev. This should be an entertaining contest, but a clear edge goes to Tiafoe.
Pick: Tiafoe in 2
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