Matteo Berrettini vs Frances Tiafoe 8/15/22 Cincinnati Tennis Picks, Predictions, Odds

Matteo Berrettini will meet Frances Tiafoe in the First Round of the 2022 Western and Southern Open. The match will be played on Monday August 15th, 2022.

Matteo Berrettini is the 14th ranked player in the world and is seeded 12th here at the Western and Southern Open. The big hitting Italian has been having yet another fruitful season in 2022 but was stunned in the First Round last week at the Montreal Open by Pablo Carreno Busta. He will be very eager to make up for that loss, and despite his low seeding (he dropped a lot of points at Wimbledon) he will be one of the big favorites to lift the trophy here. Berrettini has been handed an extremely tricky draw in the form of local favorite Frances Tiafoe, and is likely to have a huge battle on his hands.

Frances Tiafoe is unseeded here at the Western and Southern Open and is ranked 24th in the world. This is as tricky a First Round encounter for Matteo Berrettini as it gets, as the American is one of the few players capable of hitting through the top players in the world. Like his opponent, he is looking forward to making up for a disappointing Montreal Open, winning the first set before succumbing to fellow American Taylor Fritz. He has all the tools to do well here an perhaps score the upset, so it remains to be seen if he is able to keep it together for the entire match.

This is a blockbuster of a First Round match, with not much to separate the two. Both men have been having strong years and are on their favored surface, with Tiafoe having the edge of the local crowd. All things considered, I am going with Matteo Berrettini to get the tough win here. This really can go either way but the Italian has just a bit more upside and firepower, and has proven that he is an elite performer at these big events. It won’t be easy, but expect Berrettini to prevail here at the Western and Southern Open, moving on to the Second Round.