Time to wrap up the third round of the 2023 Shanghai Masters as the players from the top half will be competing on Monday. It promises to be an entertaining day of tennis with plenty of intriguing storylines across the eight matches on the slate. As always, we here at LWOT will be offering our predictions for every match on the slate, but who will book their place in the round of 16?
ATP Shanghai Day 6 Predictions
Tommy Paul vs Arthur Fils
Head-to-head: first meeting
Arthur Fils adapted his ultra-heavy forehand to the Shanghai conditions very well so far and managed to exact revenge on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who had beaten him two times before this season. Tommy Paul’s ability to counter-punch while not giving him any ground might make him an uncomfortable opponent for the young Frenchman as well. That sort of weight of shot and little time to execute his shots is usually a decent recipe for getting Fils in trouble.
Prediction: Paul in 3
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Diego Schwartzman vs Taylor Fritz
Head-to-head: Fritz 2-1 Schwartzman
Diego Schwartzman holds a head-to-head lead in this matchup, but they haven’t faced each other since 2019. This week is already massive for the Argentinian and keeps his hopes of making the Australian Open main draw somewhat alive. Any more wins from here would be extremely helpful as well. Taylor Fritz wasn’t the better player in his match against Yosuke Watanuki, but he should enjoy himself more here with much less pressure on his groundstrokes and no balls-to-the-wall aggression coming from his opponent.
Prediction: Fritz in 2
Lorenzo Sonego vs Nicolas Jarry
Head-to-head: Sonego 2-0 Jarry
Nicolas Jarry used to have issues with his baseline game off-clay, often struggling with the timing due to the lower bounce. He seems to have improved it this year and is now getting the results on hard court as well. These two have recently faced each other in a Davis Cup rubber (indoors), but it was an extremely tight match. It should be close again and Lorenzo Sonego doesn’t necessarily have to beat Jarry again at all. The Chilean’s improvement could make an appearance here.
Prediction: Jarry in 3
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Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Ugo Humbert
Head-to-head: Humbert 2-1 Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas posted a much-needed win over Rinky Hijikata in the second round, but this is the real test. Ugo Humbert has had a good year coming back to around the top 30 and eliminated Andrey Rublev in Beijing last week. The Frenchman’s lefty serve will be doing damage to the one-handed backhand return of Tsitsipas. It feels like a coin toss and the most recent performances of the fourth seed just weren’t too convincing.
Prediction: Humbert in 3
Main photo credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
