A fantastic day 5 is in store for the Western & Southern Open, with all eight third-round ATP matches scheduled to be played. Unfortunately, rain may interrupt parts of play towards the evening, but there are plenty of exciting matches that will be completed. LWOT offers insight into all of these matches, with this piece highlighting World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. The other set of ATP predictions, including Novak Djokovic vs Gaël Monfils can be found here.
ATP Cincinnati Day 5 Predictions
Alexei Popyrin vs Emil Ruusuvori
Head-to-head: First meeting
The first ATP Cincinnati prediction is a first official meeting. New matchup alert, and in fact, these two players are ranked only two spots away from each other. Ruusuvori will definitely be at a disadvantage, as he had to go through a grueling three-set match against Andrey Rublev. His 7-6 5-7 7-6 win surely is a confidence booster, but I feel that Popyrin will use his offensive game to take advantage of fatigue.
Prediction: Popyrin in 2
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Hubert Hurkacz
Head-to-head: Tsitsipas 7-2
Tsitsipas will absolutely feel confident going into this, based on his rather dominant head-to-head against the Pole. Ben Shelton played some solid tennis against the Greek in the second round, but Tsitsipas’ mental toughness helped him through that match. It was something the Greek has seemingly lacked in recent matches, which is great to see. As long as Tsitsipas stays consistent on the backhand, I can’t see him losing a set.
Prediction: Tsitsipas in 2
Stan Wawrinka vs Max Purcell
Head-to-head: First meeting
Max Purcells’s 6-4 3-6 6-4 win over Casper Ruud absolutely opened up the draw for Stan Wawrinka, who now has a great chance to return to a Masters 1000 quarterfinal for the first time in a while. Wawrinka’s win over Tiafoe resembled some of his peak form from nearly eight years ago. Look for the Swiss to reach the next round.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 2
Carlos Alcaraz vs Tommy Paul
Head-to-head: Paul 2-1
Two Canadian Open tournament’s resulted in some similar disappointing endings for Alcaraz, all of which Tommy Paul takes the blame. The American recently played amazing tennis to stun Carlos Alcaraz in the Toronto quarterfinals. It seems difficult that Paul can replicate that form a second consecutive time. If Alcaraz controls his groundstrokes, he should be able to force a lot of unforced errors from Paul. However, anything can happen with the home crowd likely to be behind Paul.
Prediction: Alcaraz in 2
Main Photo: Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
