Rinky Hijikata vs Frances Tiafoe Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP US Open

Prediction published on 02/09/2023, 13:30  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 02/09/2023 at 14:30 in Tennis Predictions

Tenth seed Frances Tiafoe is one match away from a second consecutive US Open quarter final. He takes on unseeded Rinky Hijikata in the last 16 of this year's tournament. Whoever wins this match will face either 14th seed Tommy Paul or unseeded Ben Shelton in the last eight. Tiafoe had lost in the third round of each of the first three Grand Slams of 2023. There was a chance he might get a full house of third round defeats when he dropped the first set to 22nd seed Adrian Mannarino. He recovered well though to reach his first Grand Slam fourth round of the year. The American was ranked tenth at the start of this US Open but is down to 13th as he defends the points he earned when getting to the last four here in 2022.

Rinky Hijikata had never made it past the first round of a Grand Slam event before this year. He bettered that poor record when reaching the second round of his home Grand Slam, the Australian Open. He hadn't built on that until this week, losing in the qualifying rounds at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. At the start of this US Open he was ranked 110th and that was a career high. This run to the fourth round has seen him climb to 81st in the live rankings. The Australian has made it to round four for the loss of only one set but he hasn't faced any seeded opposition until now. We go for Tiafoe to win this in straight sets.