All third round matches are scheduled to play on Thursday, but a few players like Simona Halep and Juan Martin Del Potro were unable to complete their second round matches on Wednesday. They’ll need to play twice on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals.
Grigor Dimitrov vs. Novak Djokovic
Dimitrov is the defending champion in Cincinnati, and will lose 910 points with a loss today. Djokovic is looking prevail at the only Masters 1,000 event he’s never won, and to earn enough ranking points to secure himself a top eight seed at the US Open. Unless David Goffin makes a deep run in Cincinnati, Novak has already done so, which would mean he couldn’t face Nadal or Federer before the quarterfinals in New York. These two are pretty good friends off the court, but their on-court history has been decidedly one-sided. Djokovic owns a 7-1 record against Dimitrov, with Grigor’s only victory coming five years ago in Madrid. They met earlier this year at Queen’s Club, with Novak winning rather easily. Neither of these players have exactly lit up the summer hard court season as of yet. Dimitrov struggled his way to the quarterfinals last week in Toronto, where he was soundly defeated by Kevin Anderson. And he didn’t look his best yesterday in victory over Mischa Zverev. Meanwhile Djokovic was upset last week by Stefanos Tsitsipas, and is yet to reach his top level this week in Cincinnati. Based on their head-to-head, and considering the pressure Dimitrov will have on him to defend so many points, Djokovic is the clear favorite here.
Other notable men’s matches on Thursday:
- In a battle of the top Canadians, Milos Raonic vs. Denis Shapovalov
- Kevin Anderson vs. David Goffin
- Marin Cilic vs. Karen Khachanov, who’s playing the best tennis of his young career.
- Roger Federer vs. Leonardo Mayer
- Stan Wawrinka vs. Martin Fucsovics, in a rematch from last week, when they played deep into a third set tiebreak.
Angelique Kerber vs. Madison Keys
This is a rematch from this year’s Australian Open quarterfinals, where Kerber dismantled Keys, dropping just three games in a match that lasted only 51 minutes. Just like the men’s match of the day, there is a 7-1 head-to-head record in this matchup, in favor of Kerber. Keys’ only victory was in 2014 on the grass of Eastbourne. Their last four meetings have all been on hard courts, and Kerber has won them all in straight sets. The oft-injured Keys pulled out of both San Jose and Montreal due to an ongoing wrist injury, but played very well yesterday in a comfortable win over the always-dangerous Camila Giorgi. If Keys is feeling 100%, this US hard court event may be a good chance for the American to upset Kerber. The Wimbledon champion lost her opening round last week at the Rogers Cup, and survived a near-three hour match last night over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. But as we saw in Melbourne, Kerber’s defense nullifies so much of Keys’ offense, and Madison does not possess a backup plan. This is not a good matchup for Keys, as the finalist from last year’s US Open works to build her confidence heading into New York this year.
Other notable women’s matches on Thursday:
- US Open Champion Sloane Stephens vs. Elise Mertens, who already has 39 match wins this year.
- Caroline Garcia vs. a red-hot Aryna Sabalenka
- Petra Kvitova vs. Kristina Mladenovic
