The second round matches at the 2019 Shanghai Masters continue on Wednesday, October 9 and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem will be in action today. Get the Stefanos Tsitsipas v Felix Auger Aliassime & Dominic Thiem v Pablo Carreno Busta tips, previews and predictions below along with that for a couple of other matches below.
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Felix Auger v Aliassime v Stefanos Tsitsipas Predictions & Preview
This is the third meeting between Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas, with the young Canadian leading the head-to-head 2-0. Both meetings were earlier this year, with the young Canadian winning at Indian Wells and at Queens Club in straight sets.
After a successful start to the year, where he was an Australian Open semi-finalist, performed well at the ATP 250s in February, and had a good clay season overall, Tsitsipas’ season took a dip over the grass and US hard court seasons with early losses. The Greek star is in the hunt to cement his place at the year end ATP Tour Finals in London, and looked to be reviving his season with a finals appearance last week against Dominic Thiem at the ATP 500 in Beijing. Tsitisipas defeated defending champion Nikoloz Basilashvili and Alexander Zverev en route.
Young Canadian Felix Auger- Aliassime at age 20, has had a good year, being a finalist at three ATP events at Rio, Lyon and Stuttgart. He was also a semi-finalist at the Miami Masters 1000, losing to John Isner. An all-court tennis player with an effective serve, strong volley, and all-round athleticisim, he has been earmarked as one to watch out for the future. The Canadian is currently ranked a career-high number 19 in the world.
The third version of this contest between these two exciting players promises a lot and is expected to live up to the challenge. Tsitsipas has struggled to win against the young Canadian, from when they were juniors on the tour, and he will like to correct it, sooner rather than later. A fun match on the cards; expect the Greek to turn the tide in three sets.
Tip: Tsitsipas to win in three sets: 13/4 with Unibet
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Pablo Carreno Busta v Dominic Thiem Predictions & Preview
This is the sixth meeting between both players, and Dominic Thiem brings a strong 5-0 head-to-head with him to this matchup. Although the players have not met in two years, Thiem has got the better of his Spanish opponent on both clay and hard courts in their meetings.
Dominic Thiem won his fourth title of the year, and second on hard courts, last week at the China Open in Beijing, to cement his place at the ATP Tour Finals in London. With wins over the ‘Big Three’ this year, Thiem has looked confident and in strong form for good portions of the year. He also looks to have recovered from his dip in form during the grass and US hard court season.
Pablo Carreno Busta is still looking to retun to the form that took him to the top ten in the world rankings in 2017, and has done well over the last few weeks, to return to the top 50 in the rankings, as well as win the ATP 250 title at the Chengdu Open.
Thiem has the upper hand in this contest, and the head-to-head and victory last week at the ATP 500 in Beijing will give him increased confidence. Expect Thiem to win in two tight sets.
Tip: Thiem to win in two sets: 11/10 with Unibet
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Alexander Zverev v Jeremy Chardy Predictions & Preview
German ‘Next Gen’ star Alexander Zverev brings a 3-1 head-to-head against French veteran Jeremy Chardy to their second round encounter here. Their last meeting was at the Australian Open earlier this year, where the German was up two sets to love, but then just about squeezed through in the fifth.
After a strong 2018, Zverev has not had the best year thus far, winning only one ATP title at Geneva. He had a good run at the China Open in Beijing last week, making the semi-finals and is in the reckoning for the year end Tour Finals in London.
Veteran Chardy has had another start-stop year, but is not one to be taken lightly as he has shown on many occasions. He looked in good form in his opener against Kyle Edmund and will hope to carry his form through.
Zverev has got the better of Chardy in the past, and looks determined to make it to the London Finals and can be expected to win in straight sets here.
Tip: Zverev to win in straight sets: 10/11 with Unibet
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Novak Djokovic v Denis Shapovalov Predictions & Preview
This is the third meeting between Novak Djokovic and Denis Shapovalov. Incidentally, their first two meetings were both earlier this year, at the Australian Open and the Rome Masters 1000 respectively. Djokovic was victorious on both occasions.
World number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic returns to Shanghai after a successful week where he won his first ever Tokyo ATP 500 title. The Serb has had a strong year, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, but a shoulder injury resulting in him pulling out of his fourth round match in the US Open raised concerns about the rest of his season. Djokovic looked close to his best in Tokyo and mentioned that he felt pain free, which keeps him in a good position to end the year as world number one, in what seems like could be a tight race with Rafael Nadal.
Young Canadian Denis Shapovalov emerged onto the season in 2017 and started this season well, with a semi-final appearance at the Miami Open Masters 1000, and ranked just outside the top 20 in the world. However, his form slumped thereafter, and he did not have the best of summers. However, with Mikhail Youzhny on his coaching team now, Shapovalov seems to have been in better touch in recent weeks, and did well to make the semi-finals of the ATP 250 Chengdu Open.
A clash between a member of the ‘Big Three’ and ‘Next Gen’ is always one to look forward to and we can expect some exciting rallies and points, but Djokovic will again be too strong for young Shapovalov.
Expect the Serb to win in straight sets.
Tip: Djokovic to win in straight sets