The second round of the Western and Southern Open concludes on Wednesday when the ATP Cincinnati event continues. That means that come the end of the day we will know the last 16 of the latest Masters 1000 tournament.
We saw yet more great tennis on Tuesday and with the return of Rafael Nadal headlining the action on Wednesday the day is already set up for more of the same, particularly with a strong support cast on show.
Center Court
We are at the stage of the week where the men get three matches on the Center Court and it is a clash between two Britons which opens up the show as Andy Murray takes on the leading light from the British Isles in Cameron Norrie. Both men had epic wins in the previous round so it might be a survival of the fittest that one. A women’s match then takes place before the day session concludes with the men when the Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz goes up against the form horse of Nick Kyrgios. The men also open up the evening session as Rafael Nadal takes to the court for the first time since Wimbledon when he faces Borna Coric.
Grandstand
Just the two matches take place on the Grandstand court in the men’s draw on Wednesday and we have a clash between two North American stars in the first one which comes after a women’s match. Tommy Paul takes on Denis Shapovalov. We have to wait until the night session for the other men’s contest but when that comes along two American players will be battling it out for a place in the last 16 when Frances Tiafoe takes on Sebastian Korda.
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Stadium 3
Three men’s matches take place out on the third court on Wednesday and they come in the opening three games of the day. We get underway with Felix Auger-Aliassime going up against Alex de Minaur before the Montreal finalist Hubert Hurkacz will take on the big serving home star John Isner. Stefanos Tsitsipas got a bye through to this second round so he will take to the courts in Cincinnati for the first time this week when he faces off against Filip Krajinovic.
Best of the Rest
Four other matches take place around the grounds for those with a grounds pass or access to all the streams to enjoy and there are some big names among them too. Casper Ruud is the highest ranked player in those matches but Jannik Sinner is rapidly becoming a star in the game as well. Andrey Rublev was a beaten finalist here last year and he begins his campaign against Fabio Fognini on Wednesday while Roberto Bautista Agut is another one on show.
Betting
Frances Tiafoe takes a 3-0 career lead into his match with Sebastian Korda on Wednesday evening and I expect that to be 4-0 when they are done. Korda is a player with a lot of game but I just wonder if the cooler night conditions will eliminate some of that and if it does that won’t be good news for him because the athleticism of Tiafoe could see him hard to get past. To his credit though, Korda does come here off the back of a good run in Washington recently.
Tiafoe hasn’t picked up that eye catching result he would have been looking for on the hard courts this summer yet but it has generally taken a top player to beat him. The three men he has lost to in his last three tournaments has been Jenson Brooksby, Nick Kyrgios and Taylor Fritz, all of whom are in better shape with their games than Korda is right now. When you throw in the record between the two and the fact that conditions are more likely to suit Tiafoe and we have ourselves plenty of reason to think the more established player will come out on top in this battle of the Americans.
Tips
Back F.Tiafoe to beat S.Korda for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with William Hill
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