Frances Tiafoe vs Felix Auger Aliassime Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Barcelona

Prediction published on 21/04/2022, 11:46  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 21/04/2022 at 13:32 in Tennis Predictions

Two seeds face each other in the last 16 of the Barcelona Open. Felix Auger-Aliassime is the third seed with his opponent Frances Tiafoe being the 13th seed. The winner of this match will face either sixth seeded Diego Schwartzmann or unseeded Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter finals. Auger-Aliassime had a tough first match in this tournament. The Canadian won the first set against Carlos Taberner 6-1 but then lost the second before winning the decider 6-4. He's yet to win an ATP Tour final on clay and has lost two finals, the most recent being three years ago to Benoit Paire in Lyon. Four titles have been won on lower level tours. Auger-Aliassime has never won a main draw match at Roland Garros which is disappointing considering he reached the boy's final there six years ago. 2022 has seen the 21-year-old rise to ninth in the world rankings. He won the Rotterdam tournament in February and then lost to Andrey Rublev in the Marseille final. His only clay court events prior to this tournament were in Marrakech where he lost in the last 16 to Alex Molcan and Monte Carlo in which he lost his opening match to Lorenzo Musetti.

Frances Tiafoe is world ranked 29th, one below his best ever ranking. The American could have a chat with his opponent about what it's like to lose in the first round at Roland Garros. Tiafoe has done that in each of the six times he's made the main draw and he failed to qualify on his other visit. He did get to the final in Estoril four years ago and has won three Challenger Tour clay court events. His only clay court tournament this year was in Houston earlier this month, losing to John Isner in the last eight. Other highlights this year are a last 16 appearance at the Miami Masters but it's been a bit of a disappointing 2022 so far. This week has seen him beat the qualifier Hugo Dellin in straight sets. His only previous match against Auger-Aliassime saw him lose in four sets in the 2021 US Open. Back Auger-Aliassime to win this.