A very good week of tennis at the ATP Cincinnati tournament concludes on Sunday when the final of the Western and Southern Open takes place as Stefanos Tstisipas meets Borna Coric for the latest Masters 1000 title of the season.
Tsitsipas is no stranger to winning events at this level. He goes in search of a third Masters 1000 title and a first on a hard court here. This will be the second time Coric has been in a final of a tournament of this stature. He is eyeing up a first title.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
There is something about the air in Cincinnati that Stefanos Tsitsipas seems to enjoy. After making it into what turned out to be a controversial semi-final here a year ago he has gone one better this year and beat the world number one Daniil Medvedev to make it through to this final. He has only ever won a Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo so this is a chance for him to elevate his game further and also take a huge dollop of confidence to New York with him.
The Greek has had to come through a couple of deciding sets in the last two rounds to make it through to this final and with all the rain and the waiting around and everything that might be significant. The one thing he has in his favour in this final is the fact he has experienced the biggest matches in the sport having competed in Grand Slam finals. This is a big night in its own right but he’s tasted this environment before.
Borna Coric
I guess you could say this is a breakthrough week for Borna Coric but I’m not convinced it is. Everyone knows he has always had the talent to compete at this level. It was about him staying fit and building up a block of training where his body would allow him to do it and that is what has happened this week. Sometimes when you get to this stage of a tournament a draw has opened up for an unseeded player to make it through but that hasn’t been the case either.
He has already beaten Rafael Nadal, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Cameron Norrie this week so he has been something of a top 10 player buster and he’ll be hoping that he has one more elite scalp left in him. This is his second Masters 1000 final but he faced Novak Djokovic in the final of his first so he might feel this is his time to join the growing list of players who have won at this level. Pablo Carreno Busta won his first title at this level last week which might act as inspiration.
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Head-to-Head
These two men have played twice with a win apiece in that time but the Tsitsipas win came about when Coric retired after five games so the Croatian will know that he has won their only completed previous meeting. That might well be significant as well because that was at the US Open a couple of years ago when Coric won a five set epic in four hours and 38 minutes. That would suggest we might be set for a close final here.
Betting
I’m expecting a close match here. In that previous meeting between the two there were five sets and the easiest any of them was won was 6-4. There were two tiebreaks and a 7-5 so that tells me that each set is going to be particularly competitive here, even more so when you consider what is at stake in this match with it being a final of a big competition and everything. The games line for this one is 22.5 which might not be high enough.
I think the intensity these two play at is going to lead for lengthy rallies and tight sets. My gut tells me that Coric might get the better of Tsitsipas if as much for freshness as anything else but I am acutely aware that he might get nervous when the finish line comes along. This final could easily go to a third set given how competitive I expect it to be and if it does then we’re as good as guaranteed the over but I fancy it gets covered in two sets anyway.
Tips
Back Over 22.5 games for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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