.Third-round action at the united state Open starts with a third-round face-off between Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe on Friday. Novak Djokovic as well as Alexei Popyrin are also going for a location in the proverbial second full week of the tournament.Here are my picks for two of Friday's greatest matchups.( 13) Ben Shelton vs. (twenty) Frances Tiafoe.
It's a rematch of the last summer season's U.S. Open quarterfinals, as well as this time around Shelton can be found in with some expectations. In reality, he is actually the favored versus Tiafoe-- which had not been the case in 2023. Shelton was the longshot in their previous united state Open tilt, but he gained it in four collections and became a surprise semifinalist that thrilled New york city groups with his growing offer and big-stage charisma.
Both Shelton and also Tiafoe are participating in properly currently. The former looked self-assured in his straight-set get Roberto Bautista Agut on Wednesday. The 21-year-old made the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Expert earlier this month. Tiafoe made it completely to the Cincy last before catching Jannik Evildoer.
Shelton is an ideal 2-0 in the head-to-head set. Look for it to be 3-0 when this ends.
Choose: Shelton in 4( 28) Alexei Popyrin vs. (2) Novak DjokovicDjokovic and also Popyrin will definitely be actually contesting at a third major in 2024 when they meet again on Friday. They additionally went head-to-head at the Australian Open and also Wimbledon, along with Djokovic getting the job done in four sets both opportunities to confiscate an overall 3-0 top in the H2H collection. He likewise prevailed 6-4, 6-2 at the 2019 Tokyo activity.
As those competitive Conquest runs into with Djokovic show, Popyrin is actually participating in the most ideal ping pong of his job this year-- as well as it is actually certainly not also close. He falls to 28th in the ranks thanks partially to a Professional 1000 headline in Montreal and so far in NYC the Aussie has absolutely surged both Soonwoo Kwon as well as Pedro Martinez. Sadly for Stand Out, Djoker has actually won 18 sets in sequence going back to the Olympics. The 24-time bang champ has not relinquished a set to any person apart from Carlos Alcaraz considering that he dropped one to none besides Popyrin in the Wimbledon third shot.
Pick: Djokovic in 3Ricky contributes to 10sballs. com and also sustains his own ping pong site, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.