.Third-round activity at the USA Open starts along with a third-round showdown in between Ben Shelton as well as Frances Tiafoe on Friday. Novak Djokovic and also Alexei Popyrin are also going for a spot in the proverbial 2nd full week of the tournament.Here are my picks for 2 of Friday's finest competitions.( 13) Ben Shelton vs. (20) Frances Tiafoe.
It's a rematch of the final summertime's U.S. Open quarterfinals, as well as this moment Shelton is available in with some desires. As a matter of fact, he is actually the favored against Tiafoe-- which had not been the scenario in 2023. Shelton was the underdog in their previous united state Open tilt, however he succeeded it in four collections and came to be a surprise semifinalist who thrilled New york city crowds with his growing provide and also big-stage charm.
Both Shelton and also Tiafoe are playing well right now. The past looked confident in his straight-set gain Roberto Bautista Agut on Wednesday. The 21-year-old made the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Masters previously this month. Tiafoe created it completely to the Cincy final prior to catching Jannik Evildoer.
Shelton is actually an ideal 2-0 in the head-to-head collection. Search for it to become 3-0 when this one ends.
Decide on: Shelton in 4( 28) Alexei Popyrin vs. (2) Novak DjokovicDjokovic as well as Popyrin will certainly be actually contesting at a third learn 2024 when they meet again on Friday. They additionally went head-to-head at the Australian Open and also Wimbledon, along with Djokovic doing the job in 4 collections both opportunities to confiscate an overall 3-0 lead in the H2H set. He additionally dominated 6-4, 6-2 at the 2019 Tokyo occasion.
As those very competitive Conquest runs into along with Djokovic show, Popyrin is actually participating in the very best ping pong of his career this year-- as well as it's certainly not also shut. He falls to 28th in the rankings thanks partly to a Masters thousand title in Montreal and so far in NYC the Aussie has completely surged both Soonwoo Kwon and also Pedro Martinez. However for Stand Out, Djoker has won 18 sets in sequence dating back to the Olympics. The 24-time bang champ has actually not submitted a set to anyone apart from Carlos Alcaraz considering that he lost one to none apart from Popyrin in the Wimbledon 3rd shot.
Decide on: Djokovic in 3Ricky contributes to 10sballs. com as well as also keeps his own ping pong site, The Grandstand. You can observe him on Twitter at @Dimonator.