Thursday Preview: Shapovalov Faces Raonic In Cincinnati

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the Rogers Cup & vote for who you think will win! 
Dimitrov vs Djokovic |Anderson vs Goffin | Raonic vs Shapovalov

Six members of the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings feature on Thursday at the Western & Southern Open, but standout third-round matches feature Milos Raonic, once again the Canadian No. 1, against his compatriot Denis Shapovalov and No. 10 seed Novak Djokovic versus defending champion Grigor Dimitrov.

It was back in May that Shapovalov broke Raonic’s eight-year reign as Canada’s top player, just 11 days after winning their Mutua Madrid Open third-round clash 6-4, 6-4. The significance wasn’t lost on 19-year-old Shapovalov, who confessed the victory “was definitely one of my best days on clay… To beat him, it was a huge confidence booster for me.”

Now, on the hard courts of Cincinnati, Shapovalov has since compiled an 11-10 match record and Raonic, back once again as Canada’s No. 1, is growing in confidence, with a 12-4 mark. A strong service performance from Shapovalov helped him to beat Raonic on 10 May and today, on Center Court, the #NextGenATP will have to compete with great discipline. Raonic has beaten three Top 30 players since losing in Madrid – Tomas Berdych and Lucas Pouille at the MercedesCup and David Goffin, last week, at the Rogers Cup.

Five-time runner-up Djokovic, looking to become the first player to win all nine Masters 1000 tournaments this week, has won his past five matches against fifth seed Dimitrov and all four of their hard-court meetings (leads 7-1 overall). Dimitrov has two Top 10 wins this year – both over Goffin – as he continues to find the kind of early-season form that helped him to the Australian Open quarter-finals (l. to Edmund) and a 10-3 start.

Djokovic, the 2008-09, 2011-12 and 2015 finalist, is seeking his 30th match win in Cincinnati (29-11) and has won 23 of his past 27 matches, including his fourth trophy at Wimbledon (d. Anderson). Having beaten Adrian Mannarino in the second round, the Serbian star admitted, “I’m still looking for that consistency. I think it’s quite important as the matches get tougher now and the opponents are higher-ranked. I am going to need that consistency and need to be solid and kind of hit with confidence.”

Second seed and seven-time champion Roger Federer aims to secure his 20th hard-court match win of 2018 (31-4 overall) against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina with the possibility of an all-Swiss quarter-final on the horizon against wild card Stan Wawrinka, who is returning to peak form following two knee surgeries last year. Wawrinka will first need to overcome Marton Fucsovics, also in a late night show court encounter.

Kevin Anderson, who is currently in sixth position in the ATP Race To London for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, takes a 34-12 season record (22-6 on hard courts) into his clash against No. 11 seed Goffin, runner-up at The O2 season finale in London last year, in a first-time meeting. Goffin, who came into the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament with a 2-5 record since falling in the Roland Garros fourth round (l. to Cecchinato), has earned confidence-boosting victories over last week’s Rogers Cup finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas and Benoit Paire in Cincinnati this week.

Third seed Juan Martin del Potro and Hyeon Chung will need to play two matches on day four, after their second-round match was suspended due to rain on Wednesday night. Neither player has met No. 15 seed Nick Kyrgios, who awaits the victor. Elsewhere, seventh seed and 2016 titlist Marin Cilic challenges Karen Khachanov of Russia.