An all-seeded, huge-hitting showdown between Ben Shelton and Gabriel Diallo is part of Thursday’s third-round schedule in Washington, D.C. As for Corentin Moutet vs. Dan Evans, that will result in an unseeded quarterfinalist.
(4) Ben Shelton vs. (15) Gabriel Diallo
Shelton no longer has a home tournament now that the Atlanta ATP 250 is off the schedule, but he is feeling right at home at the Mubadala Citi Open in Washington, D.C. The eighth-ranked American is probably the second biggest draw this week on the men’s side behind only Frances Tiafoe, for whom this really is a home event. Shelton treated the crowd to a dominant 6-3, 6-4 victory over Mackenzie McDonald on Tuesday night, during which the No. 4 seed struck nine aces without double-faulting and did not face a single break point.
Up next for Shelton in Thursday’s third round is Diallo, who won their only previous encounter 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3 at the 2022 Fairfield Challenger. Both guys were right out of college when that contest took place. Shelton has obviously made bigger strides on the pro tour since then, but Diallo is not too far behind. The 6’8” Canadian is up to a career-high ranking of No. 35 and–having played almost exclusively in Challengers this time last year–has a great chance to be seeded at the U.S. Open. Diallo also won 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday, easing past Fabian Marozsan while saving the only break point he faced. The margins will almost certainly be small, but a slight edge goes to Shelton during what is his favorite time of year–the U.S. hard-court swing.
Pick: Shelton in 3
(WC) Dan Evans vs. (LL) Corentin Moutet
It will be a much different matchup when a wild card and lucky loser take the court, especially from a stylistic perspective. Evans and Moutet won’t win many free points on serve, but a whole host of slice backhands, drop-shots, and net play will be on display for what will be their third head-to-head matchup. There won’t be any love lost, either, as plenty of words were exchange during and after Moutet beat Evans 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 at the 2021 Barcelona tournament. The Frenchman also prevailed in a fourth-set tiebreaker at the 2020 U.S. Open.
Moutet is already on his second life in Washington, having lost to Yibing Wu 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying. However, that is not a bad result given that a resurgent Wu clobbered Gael Monfils in the first round. Not only did Moutet get a lucky-loser spot, but he also went straight to round two since Holger Rune had a bye. The world No. 59 wasted no time advancing to round three, as he destroyed Alexandre Muller 6-0, 6-1 in 58 minutes on Tuesday. Evans, the 2023 Washington champion, has advanced with victories over Zizou Bergs (3-6, 6-4, 6-3) and Alex Michelsen (6-4, 6-4). The 35-year-old Brit loves this tournament, but Moutet has been much better of late and he definitely has the ability to frustrate a combustible character like Evans–just as the left-hander did four years ago in Barcelona.
Pick: Moutet in 3
WWW?
Diallo in 3
diallo in 3, evans in 3
A battle of big servers between Diallo and Shelton, Diallo is the more hungry player here playing for a seed in the USO and Shelton is already pretty much locked in for a top 8 seed there, so not much to play for for him, Shelton will give a bit of a show but Diallo should prevail, Diallo in 3.
A Moutet match is probably the most difficult to predict out there right now, the range of scorelines and results he can provide is quite vast, his matches are always must watch, cause you know you are in for some kind of ride, you just have no idea what it will be, he is like if you put Kyrgios, Paire and Fognini together and added even more anger and insanity, I believe he once even became physically violent on a tennis court, he just smoked Muller 0 and 1, that might partly be due to Muller not being prepared, since he thought he was going to play Rune, even so such a scoreline is extremely rare on the ATP Tour, Evans somehow, some way has been winning matches at tour level again in his last few events, including upsetting Michelsen in his last match which might be his most impressive win, for this match I’m going to try and predict the scoreline as well for fun, Moutet 6-4, 6-0.
Results are Shelton in 2 and Moutet in 2 6-2, 7-6(2).