Carlos Alcaraz vs Tommy Paul Prediction & Betting Tips - Toronto, Canada

Prediction published on 11/08/2023, 04:45  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 11/08/2023 at 05:50 in ATP Toronto Predictions

World number one Carlos Alcaraz is bidding to win his seventh title of the year. The top seed faces 12th seeded Tommy Paul in the last eight of the National Bank Open in Toronto. Whoever wins this will take on either seventh seed Jannik Sinner or unseeded Gael Monfils in the semi-final. Alcaraz has been in supreme form all year with six tournaments won and a loss in one final. The Spaniard has already won two Masters 1000 events and of course the Wimbledon title. His only hard court title this year was the Indian Wells tourmanent in March. A win in this outdoor hard court match will make it 50 on the ATP Tour this year with only four defeats. He's won his last two tournaments (both on grass) and has been successful in 18 of his last 19 matches. The only loss was to Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros where he wasn't 100% fit due to cramp. This week has seen him beat Ben Shelton and 15th seeded Hubert Hurkacz. It was a tough match against Hurkacz and he had to come from behind to get the win. Both of the sets he won were via a tie-break. Alcaraz is 1-1 in previous meetings with Paul and did lose to him in this tournament last year when held in Montreal. His win came in Miami this year in straight sets.

Tommy Paul began this tournament ranked 14th which is a career high for the American. If he gets an unlikely win here, he'll move up to 12th pace. The 26-year-old has lost 17 ATP Tour matches this year but won 29. He began the year well with a run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Paul failed to make it past the third round of the other two Grand Slams played this year. This run in Toronto is good preparation for the US Open where he's lost four times in the first round in five main draw appearances. This is his third consecutive quarter final and his second on hard courts. His last tournament saw him lose to Alex de Minaur in Los Cabos. Three matches have had to be won to reach this quarter final. He faced Argentininan opponents in the first and second rounds, needing three sets in both as he defeated Diego Schwartzman and Francisco Cerundolo. Round three saw him get a straight sets win over qualifier Marcos Giron. Now comes the ulitmate test and we go for Alcaraz to win in straight sets.