TipResumen

PREVIEW

This is the second time Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev are meeting in their pro careers and the second time they face one another on the United States hard courts in 2018. The last match between the two almost ended in a fight in Miami (check it out on YouTube) and so I am expecting some tension between two of the players that could be amongst the very best on the ATP Tour in the years ahead. That last match is going to provide plenty of motivation for both players who cruised through their First Round matches in straight sets on Monday. Neither player was taxed too much which is critical in the tough conditions in New York City and this looks like one of the better Second Round matches scheduled to be played on Wednesday. It looks to be a tight match to be truthful and I can't help feel Stefanos Tsitsipas is only the favourite due to the more eye-catching run on the hard courts over the last month. He reached the Semi Final in Toronto, but the numbers suggest the youngster was a little fortunate to win at least two of the matches he did on his way through the draw. On the other hand Daniil Medvedev has done a lot of winning in Qualifiers and the early Rounds of the Masters events and the confidence was clear to see when the Russian won the Winston Salem title last week. There is a fear he could have played too much tennis while his opponent in the Second Round took a week to rest the body, but I do think Medvedev has been the slightly stronger hard court player and can be backed as the underdog. Even in their match in Miami it was a very tight one and Medvedev barely deserved to edge it and I feel this one will be very similar. I can see the losing player going back to the locker room and kicking themselves for not taking their chances, but that is where I think Medvedev will create a few more break points with his superior return game. Medvedev's return numbers are markedly better than the ones Tsitsipas has been able to produce, while their serving stats are very similar. The Greek does have a slight edge there, but the courts in New York are not the fastest hard courts out there and I think Medvedev gets enough returns in play to edge this match. Expect a close one, but I think this should be closer to a pick 'em match or even Medvedev slightly favoured so I will back him as the underdog to move into the Third Round.



PREDICTION

I will back the underdog to come through with a win in this Second Round match.