Tokyo Open 2022: Frances Tiafoe vs. Soonwoo Kwon Tennis Pick and Prediction

TennisSection previews the 2022 Tokyo Open as Frances Tiafoe takes on Soonwoo Kwon in the semifinal on Saturday, October 8th, 2022.

A place in the final of the Tokyo Open beckons for one of Frances Tiafoe or Soonwoo Kwon. Both players produced virtuoso displays in their quarterfinal matches and will have the chance to compete for some silverware this weekend. Who will prevail?

Despite having his greatest-ever season in 2022, Frances Tiafoehas only been to one ATP final before this, which came in Estoril during the European summer. The American finished runner-up to Sebastian Baez in the final after succumbing to fatigue. Tiafoe has wasted little energy in reaching the semifinal of the Tokyo Open, after navigating his way past Uchiyama, Zapata Miralles and Miomir Kecmanovic without dropping a set. Against the Serbian in the quarterfinal, Tiafoe was expected to face his first acid test, but had the measure of Kecmanovicwho was broken four times during the contest.

Tiafoe’s next opponent Soonwoo Kwon has been in fine fettle at the Tokyo Open. After opening up his account with a massiveupset over the sixth seed Alex De Minaur, the South Korean has looked unstoppable. Not even a second-set blip against Mackenzie McDonald in the second round prevented his progress. In the quarterfinals he was simply too good for Spain’s Pedro Martinez as he dropped just three games in the match to reach his first semifinal of the season.

Frances Tiafoe leads Soonwoo Kwon 1-0 in their head-to-head. Incidentally, their only collision came on Japanese territory as Tiafoe dispatched Kwon 6-3 6-2 at last year’s Tokyo Olympics. Both players have been in great form this week, with Kwon perhaps exceeding expectations given that he had never won back-to-back matches prior to the Tokyo Open all year. Nonetheless, Tiafoe will be a tough hurdle for Kwon to clear. The American’s movement and weight of shot trumps all of Kwon’s biggest strengths and he should the favorite to win the title from here.