Day 3 of ATP action in Miami features several big names starting their campaigns in the state of Florida, with last week’s Indian Wells runner up Daniil Medvedev alongside two-time Grand Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas looking for a return to form. Who do you think will advance?
ATP Miami Day 3 Predictions
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs Juncheng Shang
Head-to-head: First meeting
Wild card Shang caused a fairly big upset in the first round beating Miomir Kecmanovic, a man ranked 78 places above him in the world rankings, in a final set tiebreak. His reward is now a meeting against Davidovich Fokina, who for his standards, has had a terrible start last two months with just two wins with five losses. This is the time where you would want to be playing the Spaniard where he finds himself struggling to grind from the back of the court and most noticeably not getting anywhere with his second serve. Shang is still only 19 years old and has the game to take it to Davidovich Fokina, especially on hard courts, this should be quite close.
Prediction: Shang in 3
Cameron Norrie vs Flavio Cobolli
Head-to-head: First meeting
The Brit has had a very strange start to the year with good performances being offset with horrendous ones in-between, most noticeably in Rio just a few weeks ago where as defending champion was routed by Mariano Navone. After losing from a set and break up to Gael Monfils last week, in a match he really should have closed out, the 28-year-old will be looking for a good run in Miami to get himself back into the world’s top 30. Cobolli is the perfect opponent for Norrie here, the Italian lacks any weapons which is perfect for the Brit as he can dominate and play points on his terms. This should be routine.
Prediction: Norrie in 2
Marton Fucsovics vs Daniil Medvedev
Head-to-head: Medvedev 3-1
Despite disappointing collapses in both the Australian Open and Indian Wells finals, Daniil Medvedev has had a fairly good start to 2024 despite playing nowhere near his best tennis. The same can’t be said about the Hungarian who’s dropped down the rankings to 86 now after securing just three main draw wins so far this year. In the one meeting Fucsovics won, it was unsurprisingly on the clay; on hard courts this won’t be any different than their previous encounter which the Russian won easily. Whilst not playing lights out tennis, Medvedvev’s game is looking far too solid for anyone but the elite to beat him.
Prediction: Medvedev in 2
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Denis Shapovalov
Head-to-head: Shapovalov 3-2
Without a doubt one of the best round two matches at the Miami Open. Whilst Tsitsipas has had a shocking last 12 months, as evident with him dropping outside the Top 10 for the first time in years, Shapovalov’s been even worse. The Canadian shockingly now ranked outside the world’s top 125 hasn’t won back-to-back matches on the main tour since July last year at Wimbledon. In fairness, he’s been injured for half of that time but even so far this year his tennis has left a lot to be desired.
Despite their previous three encounters on hard courts all being tight and going to Shapovalov, it’s hard to read much into that. Tsitsipas has always struggled against big servers on faster courts but the Shapovalov of back then is a completely different player than what we have now. The 24 year old will struggle to rally with the Greek with the amount of unforced errors he’s producing lately and alongside struggling with a huge amount of double faults per match, it’s only going to be even more difficult.
Prediction: Tsitsipas in 3
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
