World number 16 and the 12th seeded Denis Shapovalov will be in action for his first round match against Marin Cilic at the Western & Southern Open 2020 on either Saturday or Sunday, August 22 or 23. This match is scheduled to begin not before 7 pm local time (12 midnight BST). Get the live streaming options of this Denis Shapovalov v Marin Cilic match along with its preview, head to head and tips here.
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Denis Shapovalov v Marin Cilic Head to Head
Shapovalov and Cilic have already played each other thrice before this, all of which came on either hard court or indoor hard court surfaces. Shapovalov leads 2-1, having won both their last two meetings, including once at Marseille where he was stretched to three sets.
Also Read:
Poor Start to the Season for Shapovalov
For a player who ended the 2019 season with a 42-28 win-loss record which included a title win at the Stockholm Open, Shapovalov hasn’t done too well this season. Even in the limited time he’s played in 2020, Shapovalov is 4-7 on win-loss, with no real rhythm in his performances.
His best showing came at the ATP Cup, the first tournament of the season, in which he stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev in two of the first three matches he played. Even against Novak Djokovic, he was at his fighting best, taking him to the third set and losing only in the tie-breaker.
Things went downhill very quickly after that. At Auckland he lost in the second round and then went on a four-match losing streak which included first round losses at the Australian Open, Montpellier and Rotterdam.
That win against Cilic in Marseille was his last of the season and Shapovalov hasn’t played in the pandemic break either.
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Cilic Showing Signs of Spark
Just when things looked like they had slipped away from the former world number three, Cilic showed some spark at the Australian Open. After finishing with a 25-19 record last season, he went on to make it to the fourth round of the year’s first Grand Slam before losing to Milos Raonic.
Even at the ATP Cup that preceded the Australian Open, Cilic won two of his three matches and while there were early defeats at Marseille and Dubai, Cilic will be in a slightly better shape than last season. What would have helped is his solid showing at the Davis Cup where he helped Croatia beat India by winning both his singles matches.
Interestingly, however, he looked quite rusty at the Adria Tour competition where he lost all three of his matches to crash out early. Those came on clay, but that’s about as much tennis he played in over five months of the lockdown.
Can he push Shapovalov here?
Denis Shapovalov v Marin Cilic Prediction & Tip
Shapovalov is 8/11 to win this as opposed to 1/1 for a Cilic win. While we reckon Cilic will prove to be a handful on hard court, Shapovalov should go through in a tight match.
Tip: Shapoval to win: 8/11 (bet365)
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