St. Petersburg Open 2021: Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul preview, head-to-head & prediction
Match details
Fixture: (5) Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul
Date: 28 October 2021
Tournament: St. Petersburg Open 2021
Round: Second round (Round of 16)
Venue: St. Petersburg, Russia
Category: ATP 250
Surface: Indoor hardcourt
Prize money: $863,705
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel & ESPN | UK - Amazon Prime Video
Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul preview
Taylor Fritz will take on fellow American Tommy Paul in an exciting second-round encounter at the 2021 St. Petersburg Open on Thursday.
Fritz, the fifth seed, is coming off a semifinal run at Indian Wells, where he took out a series of top players including Alexander Zverev, Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini. He looks to have carried that form into St. Petersburg this week, opening his campaign with a thumping 6-1, 6-4 win over Emil Ruusuvuori.
Tommy Paul has also been playing well of late. The 23-year-old reached the fourth round at Indian Wells, where he beat Andrey Rublev to register just the second top-10 win of his career. He followed it up with a run to the last-16 at the Kremlin Cup.
Paul too began his St. Petersburg campaign in straightforward fashion, defeating Spaniard Pedro Martinez in straight sets. The American will now hope to get the better of Fritz and advance to his third quarter-final of 2021.
Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul head-to-head
This will be the first career meeting between Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, so their current head-to-head stands at a 0-0 deadlock.
Taylor Fritz vs Tommy Paul prediction
Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul have never played each other on the ATP Tour, but they have competed in two Junior Grand Slam finals. The Americans faced off in the 2015 Roland Garros and US Open boys' singles finals, with Paul winning in Paris and Fritz exacting revenge in New York.
Fritz's game is well-suited to the quick conditions in St. Petersburg; he fired down 11 aces and a total of 22 winners in his opener against Ruusuvuori.
The 23-year-old is playing with a lot of confidence and will step out looking to dictate proceedings against Paul. The onus will be on Paul to come up with a way to diffuse his opponent's firepower.
The World No. 54 is an incredible mover and possesses a solid game that has troubled the best of players in the past. But unless he can find a way to be aggressive and move Fritz around, he could find himself in deep trouble.
Prediction: Taylor Fritz to win in three sets.