Day 3 at the ATP Masters 1000 in Cincinnati will feature plenty of exciting action, including world #1 Daniil Medvedev, who’ll be looking to bounce back after losing his opening match in Canada last week to Nick Kyrgios. It will also feature the 2016 champion Marin Cilic and this year’s Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz.
ATP Cincinnati Day 3 Predictions
Taylor Fritz vs Sebastian Baez
Head-to-head: first meeting
On clay, this could be a very intriguing matchup, but on the quick hard courts of Cincinnati it should be a complete mismatch in favor of Fritz. The American will be sorely disappointed with the way he lost to Daniel Evans last week when he had a very good chance to aim for the title and will be looking to make amends this week playing at home. This first round shouldn’t cause him many issues.
Prediction: Fritz in 2
Aslan Karatsev vs Diego Schwartzman
Head-to-head: Karatsev 2-0 Schwartzman
It could be argued that Karatsev announced himself to the tennis world with his dominant straight set victory over Schwartzman back at the Australian Open in 2021. He then beat the Argentine again months later in the clay of Madrid. However, his 2022 season has been nowhere close to the level he showed last year and he actually came into this tournament on the back of four consecutive losses before beating Nakashima in his opener here. Schwartzman isn’t having a great season either, but he’s generally the more solid and consistent player of the two.
Prediction: Schwartzman in 3
Marin Cilic vs Emil Ruusuvuori
Head-to-head: Cilic 1-0 Ruusuvuori
Cilic seems to be having a mini-resurgence this year, which so far peaked with a Slam semifinal at Roland Garros. He couldn’t play at Wimbledon due to COVID and lost to Tommy Paul in the last 16 in Canada, but this is a tournament where he tends to play well, it’s actually the venue where he’s won the only Masters 1000 tournament of his career, beating Andy Murray in the 2016 final. He should have the clear edge in this matchup.
Prediction: Cilic in 2
Daniil Medvedev vs Botic Van de Zandschlup
Head-to-head: Medvedev 2-0 Van de Zandschlup
Both previous matchups were comfortable Medvedev wins at hard court Slams and there’s no reason to believe tomorrow will be any different. After his early loss in Canada, Medvedev is under some real pressure here, as an early loss could see him lose his World #1 ranking to Rafael Nadal. Van de Zandschlup really shouldn’t have enough to seriously trouble him here though.
Prediction: Medvedev in 2
Main Photo from Getty.
