American Tommy Paul will take on flamboyant Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round of the 2023 US Open. The match will be played on Friday, September 1, 2023.

We have an exciting contest here between two seeded players in the third round of the 2023 US Open. Tommy Paul, the 14th seed, is looking to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the third time. After making the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, Paul backed up his exploits this year when he made his first major semifinal at the Australian Open. So far, the New Jersey native has performed solidly to make it to the third round stage at his home Slam, but he’s taken a more treacherous path, needing four sets to take down 233rd-ranked qualifier Stefano Travaglia and five brutal sets against Roman Safiullin where he was on the cusp of exiting the tournament.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has been to the second week of the US Open on two occasions including last year. The Spaniard has certainly played to his capabilities this week, taking full advantage of a soft draw. He’s beaten American Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, and faced even less resistance against Argentina’s clay-court specialist Juan Manuel Cerundolo, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. The 21st-seeded Spaniard has dropped his serve just three times in reaching this stage, but he’ll certainly face the biggest roadblock in his quest to make the fourth round for a third time against Tommy Paul.

Tommy Paul does have a perfect record against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, winning the pair’s two meetings in the head-to-head. Both matches were contested in the first half of the season, with Paul requiring the full five sets at the Australian Open. Considering the standard of opposition, Paul has not been convincing in his two matches so far, but he has a higher floor on hard courts which gives him a slight edge in Friday’s match. Davidovich Fokina is the ultimate shotmaking artist and he’s got the all-round game that suits all surfaces. It’s a tight line on the outright and we can easily see both players taking at least a set off each other. We would recommend backing the games market (over 39.5 games) almost at evens.