Shanghai Masters 2024: Frances Tiafoe vs Roman Safiullin preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds, and pick
Match Details
Fixture: (13) Frances Tiafoe vs Roman Safiullin
Date: October 8, 2024
Tournament: Shanghai Masters 2024
Round: Third Round (Round of 32)
Venue: Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, Shanghai, China
Category: ATP Masters 1000
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: $8,995,555
Live Telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN
Frances Tiafoe vs Roman Safiullin preview
Thirteenth seed Frances Tiafoe will take on Roman Safiullin in the third round of the Shanghai Masters 2024.
Tiafoe finished as the runner-up at the Cincinnati Open and reached the semifinals of the US Open during a successful North American swing. He started the Asian swing at the Japan Open and lost to Brandon Nakashima 7-5, 6-3 in the first round.
Tiafoe received a bye into the second round of the Shanghai Masters, where he faced home favorite Yi Zhou. The American didn't miss a beat from start to finish. He broke his opponent's serve twice in the first set, and once in the second set to register a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Safiullin drew Beibit Zhukayev in his opener here and beat him 7-6 (0), 6-4 to set up a second-round date with another Kazakh, 23rd seed Alexander Bublik. Their rain-delayed match took two days to finish, and the Russian was in full flight as he broke his rival's serve on three occasions during the contest to secure a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Frances Tiafoe vs Roman Safiullin head-to-head
This will be the first career meeting between the two, so the head-to-head stands at 0-0.
Frances Tiafoe vs Roman Safiullin odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Frances Tiafoe vs Roman Safiullin prediction
Both players cruised to comfortable wins in the previous round, with neither dropping their serve even once. Tiafoe won 89 percent of his first serve points and struck 17 winners against 15 unforced errors. Safiullin, meanwhile, won 77 percent of his first serve points and fired 12 winners compared to only four unforced errors.
However, this was Safiullin's 16 win of the season, while it was Tiafoe's 31st. While the latter started his Asian trek on a bumpy note, he has been in pretty good form over the last few weeks.
Safiullin also has a 1-5 record against top 20 players on hardcourts and has lost his last four matches against them. Tiafoe, on the other hand, has a 13-6 record against players ranked outside the top 50 on the surface and has won six consecutive matches against them. This contest leans heavily in the American's favor given his results.
Pick: Frances Tiafoe to win in straight sets.