The first round will be wrapped up on Tuesday at the ATP Cincinnati Open and the second round will also get underway. The result is an action-packed schedule and, as always, we here at LWOT are offering our predictions for every match on the schedule, including Daniil Medvedev vs Botic van de Zandschulp and Mackenzie McDonald vs Carlos Alcaraz. But who will advance?
ATP Cincinnati Day 3 Predictions
Tommy Paul vs Jenson Brooksby
Head-to-head: first meeting
Tommy Paul has already made a couple of quarterfinals this North American hard court season (Atlanta and Montreal). Jenson Brooksby was the runner-up in the former event, but has only picked up one win since. This is an interesting matchup and the two Americans have never played each other before. Paul has the athleticism to take on Brooksby in longer rallies and along with his much more potent serve and bigger weaponry, this should probably be enough to give him a slight advantage.
Prediction: Paul in 3
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Nick Kyrgios vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Head-to-head: first meeting
Nick Kyrgios has played a lot recently and that probably works both in his favor and against him. The Australian looked gassed in the quarterfinals at Montreal, but he’s been extremely tough to stop in recent months. The surface in Cincinnati is quite fast, which should suit him (and he’s the 2017 runner-up). How full his fuel tank is remains unknown, but the 27-year-old is in such good form that picking against him seems like a terrible idea.
Prediction: Kyrgios in 2
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Lorenzo Sonego vs Ben Shelton
Head-to-head: first meeting
It’s tough not to start overhyping someone as talented as Ben Shelton. The 2022 NCAA champion has been amazing in the professional events he’s played over the summer. His maturity goes well beyond his years and is the biggest difference between the explosive, but a little wild game he had last year. While he recently sort of failed to step up to the challenge mentally in his first Challenger final, he usually performs under pressure and he’s got a very winnable first-round match here.
Prediction: Shelton in 3
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Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Jannik Sinner
Head-to-head: first meeting
Jannik Sinner has been very consistent in winning his opening matches this year, only dropping one to Tommy Paul at Eastbourne (grass). Even though he struggled to beat Adrian Mannarino in Montreal last week, it was most likely related to rust and playing on hard courts for the first time since March. Thanasi Kokkinakis is definitely among the more dangerous qualifiers, but Sinner should theoretically be improving with every new performance in this part of the season.
Prediction: Sinner in 2
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