Tennis Prediction Frances Tiafoe vs Taylor Fritz: Cincinnati

• On Sunday, I played against Tiafoe's hand. Operated on a cyst 9 days earlier, without a warm-up match, against an opponent who bothers him: the file said it wouldn't hold up.

• It held up. 6-3 6-4 against Sonego, intact serve, zero sets lost. When the court responds, we change sides, and today I'm playing with that hand.

• What we're asking of him tonight is modest: one set against Learner Tien. Yet in their two duels, Tiafoe has won a set each time, and in Delray Beach in February he lost the match 7-5 in the third, just two points away.

Add that this tournament is his: a final in 2024, a quarter in 2025, 6 wins in his last 7 matches in Cincinnati.

• The respect for Tien is complete, his August has been monstrous, Paul swept 6-3 6-2 along the way. That's exactly why the leg stops at one set: against this Tien, we don't promise the match, we promise that Tiafoe will exist. He has always existed against him.

• On the other side, Taylor Fritz. Merida brings out the CV of the month, Humbert, Michelsen, Griekspoor, Cilic, Bergs, but he'll play his sixth match in 8 days, and none of his victims served like Fritz.

• The streaks of the returners stop against the elite servers, we saw that again on Sunday.

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