.Third-round action at the united state Open starts with a third-round showdown between Ben Shelton and also Frances Tiafoe on Friday. Novak Djokovic and also Alexei Popyrin are actually additionally going for a place in the typical second week of the tournament.Here are my picks for two of Friday's absolute best matches.( 13) Ben Shelton vs. (twenty) Frances Tiafoe.
It's a rematch of the final summer months's USA Open quarterfinals, and also this time around Shelton comes in with some assumptions. In fact, he is actually the favorite against Tiafoe-- which had not been the case in 2023. Shelton was the longshot in their previous USA Open tilt, however he won it in four collections and became a surprise semifinalist who thrilled The big apple crowds with his thriving serve as well as big-stage personal appeal.
Each Shelton as well as Tiafoe are actually playing properly presently. The previous appeared self-assured in his straight-set gain Roberto Bautista Agut on Wednesday. The 21-year-old created the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Expert earlier this month. Tiafoe made it right to the Cincy ultimate before catching Jannik Evildoer.
Shelton is actually an ideal 2-0 in the head-to-head series. Search for it to be 3-0 when this points.
Pick: Shelton in 4( 28) Alexei Popyrin vs. (2) Novak DjokovicDjokovic as well as Popyrin are going to be squaring off at a third major in 2024 when they reunite on Friday. They likewise went head-to-head at the Australian Open as well as Wimbledon, with Djokovic doing the job in four collections both times to confiscate a general 3-0 lead in the H2H series. He additionally dominated 6-4, 6-2 at the 2019 Tokyo celebration.
As those affordable Grand Slam comes across with Djokovic suggest, Popyrin is playing the best tennis of his job this year-- and it is actually certainly not also finalize. He falls to 28th in the rankings thanks partly to an Expert 1000 title in Montreal consequently much in NYC the Aussie has actually completely surged both Soonwoo Kwon as well as Pedro Martinez. Regrettably for Stand Out, Djoker has won 18 sets in progression dating back to the Olympics. The 24-time slam champ has actually certainly not relinquished a set to any person other than Carlos Alcaraz since he shed one to none other than Popyrin in the Wimbledon 3rd round.
Choose: Djokovic in 3Ricky contributes to 10sballs. com as well as additionally sustains his own tennis internet site, The Grandstand. You can observe him on Twitter at @Dimonator.