Andrey Rublev vs Taylor Fritz 8/18/22 Cincinnati Tennis Picks, Predictions, Odds

Andrey Rublev will meet Taylor Fritz in the Round of 16 of the 2022 Western and Southern Open. The match will be played on Thursday August 18th, 2022 at 11:00am EST.

Andrey Rublev is the sixth seed here at the 2022 Western and Southern Open, and is ranked 8th on the ATP Tour. The Russian has been having a mixed season in 2022, and we can see evidence of that in his past two tournaments. After reaching the Semi-Finals in Washington where he shockingly lost to Nishioka, he lost in the First Round in Montreal to Dan Evans. He would have entered this event hoping to find some form ahead of the US Open, but was surprisingly pushed to the limit by Fabio Fognini, barely escaping in three tight sets. He will have to be much improved here against the in-form Taylor Fritz who is looking to be in sublime form.

Taylor Fritz is the 11th seed at the Western and Southern Open and is the 13th ranked player in the world. Unlike his opponent Andrey Rublev he has looked extremely convincing here in Cincinnati, crushing Sebastian Baez and Nick Kyrgios in back to back matches, only dropping seven games in the process. As expected his massive serve has been firing on all cylinders, and his groundstrokes have also been fantastic. In this type of form he is one of the best hard court players in the world, and he seems to be peaking at the right time, especially at home. While he is ranked lower than Rublev there is an argument that Fritz should be the favorite as he is playing the much better tennis at the moment.

This should really be a thriller, and I am going against the rankings and picking Taylor Fritz to win here. Andrey Rublev is one of the best players in the world but he is playing without confidence, and has been very wasteful lately. Taylor Fritz is relishing playing infront of his home crowd, and is playing some of the best tennis of his life this year. I wouldn’t totally discount Rublev, but i’m backing Fritz to win here with a large degree of confidence.