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Two seeds meet in the third round on Tuesday as Australian 20th seed Alexei Popyrin will meet Bulgaria’s ninth-seed Grigor Dimitrov in a fascinating match-up
RANKING POINTS: ATP 1000
START DATE/TIME: Tuesday 8th October, 2024, UK – not before 5:30am / US ET – not before 0:30am / Monday 7th October, US PT – not before 9:30pm
VENUE: Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, Shanghai, China
SURFACE: Outdoor hard
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports Tennis / US – Tennis Channel
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – Tennis Channel
TICKETS: Visit this link for the latest Alexei Popyrin vs Grigor Dimitrov ticket information
ALEXEI POPYRIN VS GRIGOR DIMITROV PREDICTION
Alexei Popyrin cruised through his opening match against Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3 6-2 and the 25-year-old Australian will be keen to build some momentum now. He has a knack of either being eliminated in the first round he plays, or progressing through multiple rounds – there is very little mid-ground. After winning the Canadian Open in the first time he even qualified for the main draw, he will not be phased by his lack of history at this tournament.
He now faces a tough test in veteran Grigor Dimitrov who needed three sets to beat Zizou Bergs on Saturday. The 33-year-old did reach the semi-finals last year but he will have to improve notably on his first match if he is to get to the business end of the tournament this time around.
The pair have met three times before and one of those came in the Canadian Open which Popyrin went on to win. His victory over Dimitrov in the round of 16 gave him a huge boost in his belief and he really impressed that week. They met twice before back in 2021 and they won one of those apiece but Popyrin who the big one at the US Open.
Dimitrov has had some physical problems of late as he pulled out after his first Laver Cup match and then withdrew from the China Open. He looked ok in his first match but withdrawing and retiring from matches is becoming increasingly common for him.
With Popyrin having the edge over him in recent meetings and his physical problems of late, we have to favour the Australian here although we advise approach this one with caution.
ALEXEI POPYRIN VS GRIGOR DIMITROV TIP: ALEXEI POPYRIN TO WIN