.Third-round action at the U.S. Open begins with a third-round face-off between Ben Shelton as well as Frances Tiafoe on Friday. Novak Djokovic and Alexei Popyrin are also trying for an area in the typical 2nd week of the tournament.Here are my choices for 2 of Friday's absolute best matches.( 13) Ben Shelton vs. (twenty) Frances Tiafoe.
It's a rematch of the final summer season's USA Open quarterfinals, and also this time Shelton can be found in with some requirements. In fact, he is the favorite versus Tiafoe-- which wasn't the instance in 2023. Shelton was the underdog in their previous U.S. Open tilt, yet he gained it in 4 collections as well as became an unpleasant surprise semifinalist that thrilled New york city groups along with his flourishing provide and big-stage personal appeal.
Each Shelton and Tiafoe are playing properly right now. The previous looked confident in his straight-set draw Roberto Bautista Agut on Wednesday. The 21-year-old made the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month. Tiafoe created it all the way to the Cincy final before catching Jannik Criminal.
Shelton is actually an excellent 2-0 in the neck and neck series. Look for it to become 3-0 when this set ends.
Pick: Shelton in 4( 28) Alexei Popyrin vs. (2) Novak DjokovicDjokovic and Popyrin will definitely be actually squaring off at a 3rd major in 2024 when they meet again on Friday. They also went head-to-head at the Australian Open as well as Wimbledon, along with Djokovic getting the job done in 4 collections both times to take an overall 3-0 top in the H2H series. He likewise prevailed 6-4, 6-2 at the 2019 Tokyo celebration.
As those affordable Grand Slam experiences with Djokovic suggest, Popyrin is actually participating in the most effective tennis of his profession this year-- as well as it's not also shut. He falls to 28th in the rankings many thanks in part to an Expert thousand headline in Montreal consequently far in NYC the Aussie has actually completely surged both Soonwoo Kwon and also Pedro Martinez. Unfortunately for Pop, Djoker has gained 18 embed in sequence going back to the Olympics. The 24-time bang champ has actually certainly not given up a set to any individual other than Carlos Alcaraz because he lost one to none aside from Popyrin in the Wimbledon third round.
Select: Djokovic in 3Ricky contributes to 10sballs. com and likewise keeps his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You can observe him on Twitter at @Dimonator.