Cincinnati Masters 2022: Denis Shapovalov vs. Grigor Dimitrov Tennis Pick and Prediction

TennisSection previews the 2022 Cincinnati Masters as Grigor Dimitrov takes on Denis Shapovalov in the first round on Monday, August 15th, 2022.

Former champion Grigor Dimitrov will look to extend more misery to Denis Shapovalov when they square off in a mouthwatering opener at the Cincinnati Masters. The Canadianis having a meagre return of results in recent months, can he change it up this week?

With a 20-15 record for the season, Grigor Dimitrov is surprisingly 9-8 on hard courts in 2022. For much of his career so far, Dimitrov was and still is a perennial threat on the surface. He has recorded some of his biggest results and won his biggest titles on hard courts. But the first half of the season featured some damaging losses which perhaps tarnished his reputation on the surface. Defeats to the likes of Benoit Paire, John Millmanand Stefanos Kozlov sent him into a mini crisis before he produced a respectable quarterfinal run at Indian Wells. The form book does not favor Dimitrov heading to the Cincinnati Masters although he faced some stiff competition in his last two tournaments losing to De Minaur and Sebastian Korda.

Denis Shapovalov, meanwhile, lost in the first round of the Montreal Masters to Alex De Minaur in a rain-interrupted match. The Canadian left hander was backed to return to form at his home tournament, but was sent packing at the first hurdle leaving him in some serious race to find his game ahead of the US Open. Shapovalov has been a shambles in the past three month. Since beating an injured Rafael Nadal in Rome, he has only picked up one win in eight tournaments coming to the Cincinnati Masters.

Grigor Dimitrov leads Denis Shapovalov 2-1 in their head-to-head. Although the two players have not crossed paths since 2020. The outdoor hard-court matchup was previously won by Dimitrov in Toronto back in 2016. Shapovalov will need to address his recent slide pretty fast otherwise he could be in danger of plummeting down the rankings in the next couple of months. His error-strewn game makes him so hard to side with in this match. Expect Dimitrov to progress safely into the second round of the Cincinnati Masters.