Action is starting to heat up on Day 5 of the ATP Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati with many exciting matches. Top seed Daniil Medvedev headlines the day, trying to win consecutive titles after his triumph in Toronto. But he faces Grigor Dimitrov, who won the title here a few years ago. Another great matchup pits this year’s Miami champion, Hubert Hurkacz, against Olympic Bronze Medalist Pablo Carreno Busta. Two players who favor clay face off in Casper Ruud and Diego Schwartzman, though they each have played strong tennis to make it to the Round of 16. Finally, Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini is back in action this week and will look for a strong result against Felix Auger-Aliassime who really needs a good win to get back on track. We predict all the day’s matches, with the other four in a separate article.
ATP Cincinnati Day 5 Predictions
Hubert Hurkacz vs Pablo Carreno Busta
Head-to-head: 1-0 Carreno Busta
This will be the match to watch, with both players given a difficult draw. Hurkacz won the Miami Masters this year and is very dangerous on hard courts while Carreno Busta won the Bronze Medal at the Olympics and made last year’s US Open semifinal. Carreno Busta has found it hard to lose recently, winning Hamburg and following it up with his run at the Olympics highlighted by his win over Novak Djokovic. Hurkacz has not quite found his hard court form, compiling a 4-2 record including this week, though none of those wins will come against a player inside the top-30. Hurkacz will need to be sharp to get past Carreno Busta, but the Spaniard has looked excellent of late and will combine his great defense and well-located groundstrokes to get past Hurkacz in a competitive match.
Predictions: Carreno Busta in 3
Casper Ruud vs Diego Schwartzman
Head-to-head: 4-1 Schwartzman
Though Schwartzman has dominated the head-to-head, Ruud won their most recent match in Monte Carlo this year. Schwartzman has held the edge on hard courts, winning both their meetings on the surface. Ruud has been dominant of late, winning three consecutive tournaments and scoring an impressive hard court win last week over Marin Cilic in Toronto. Schwarzman has been the better hard court player between the two but Ruud seems to be coming into form on the surface. The Argentine has reached the US Open quarterfinal but this season has had mixed results on the surface. Ruud has never been great on hard but scored an incredible win over last week’s finalist Reilly Opelka. Ruud seems to have figured out hard courts and will be able to take advantage of a struggling Schwarzman.
Predictions: Ruud in 3
Matteo Berrettini vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
Head-to-head: 2-0 Berrettini
Berrettini is trying to top the young Canadian for the second time in a few months after his quarterfinal win at Wimbledon. Auger-Aliassime has been poor since the return to hard courts, with just a 1-3 record coming into this week–including losses to Max Purcell and Jenson Brooksby. He was able to score a strong win over Olympic silver medalist Karen Khachanov last round. Berrettini rested after his Wimbledon final run so this is his first tournament back on hard courts. He did drop the first set last round but made it through a close three-set match without dropping serve once. Berrettini will again rely on his serve and take advantage of Aliassime’s recent struggles and get the victory.
Prediction: Berrettini in 3
Daniil Medvedev vs Grigor Dimitrov
Head-to-head: 2-1 Medvedev
Medvedev has been playing great tennis and Dimitrov simply has not. The Russian has won their past two meetings, including their one meeting since 2017. Coming into this week, Dimitrov had won just two of his last ten matches, though he scored impressive straight-set victories here against Roberto Bautista Agut and Alexander Bublik. The former champion is hoping to capture some of his old magic but will need everything to go right against Medvedev. Medvedev did win last week so fatigue could come into play, but he had a break with a bye and spent less than an hour on court in the first round. Medvedev is arguably the second toughest player to beat on hard courts this year, and he will put away Dimitrov without giving him a chance to get in the match.
Prediction: Medvedev in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
