Day three at the ATP Paris Masters, the final regular tour event, of the year will feature plenty of exciting action, including the two highest ranked teenagers in the world, one of whom currently occupies the rankings penthouse. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the schedule, including Rafael Nadal vs Tommy Paul and Daniil Medvedev vs Alex de Minaur. But who will advance?
ATP Paris Masters Day 3 Predictions
Jack Draper vs Frances Tiafoe
Head-to-head: first meeting
Frances Tiafoe is in the best form of his career, having followed up a semifinal at the US Open by reaching a final in Tokyo. The goal now is to end the season on a strong note this week and he started well in the first round against Lorenzo Sonego, winning 6-4 6-4. Jack Draper is on the rise himself, albeit at an early point in his career, and has shown more than once of late that he’s a better player than his ranking suggests. This should be a very tight match, but expect the more experienced American to have the edge.
Prediction: Tiafoe in 3
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Grigor Dimitrov vs Fabio Fognini
Head-to-head: Dimitrov 4-2 Fognini
Grigor Dimitrov seems to have found some decent form these past two weeks after a largely disappointing season. Lucky loser Fabio Fognini, in contrast, who seems to be on an inexorable downward spiral despite a very hard-fought first-round win against Arthur Fils here, avenging the defeat he suffered at the Frenchman’s hands in the qualifying. Still, though that may have been a chink of light for the Italian, Dimitrov should be able to prevail here and might even be able to make a strong run this week.
Prediction: Dimitrov in 2
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Hubert Hurkacz vs Holger Rune
Head-to-head: first meeting
This should in theory be a very tight match, hard to predict, but the circumstances highly favour Hubert Hurkacz. Holger Rune has reached the final in three consecutive weeks and comes into this match after only narrowly surviving an epic two and a half hours night session match against Stan Wawrinka. With such a short turnaround (so late in the season), he’ll most likely not be able to produce his best tennis, while Hurkacz will give it his absolute best to keep his Turin hopes, which depend on his winning the title here this week, alive.
Prediction: Hurkacz in 2
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Carlos Alcaraz vs Yoshihito Nishioka
Head-to-head: first meeting
Yoshihito Nishioka beat US Open finalist Casper Ruud just over a month ago in Seoul and he now has a chance to do the same against US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz. Usually, Alcaraz would be a very strong favourite but he has been struggling after winning the title in New York and Nishioka is in arguably the best moment of his career. His returning ability and consistency could well cause Alcaraz some serious issues here. In the end though, Alcaraz should have just about too much for the Japanese.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 3
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