Taylor Fritz vs David Goffin Prediction: Taylor Fritz will advance

Taylor Fritz, the ATP No. 7 American, will compete in the quarterfinal of the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters on October 11, 2024, facing Belgium's David Goffin, seeded ATP No. 66. Fritz has been one of the consistent top performers on the ATP Tour this season. Goffin has started making a strong push in recent weeks. It is going to be a head-to-head decider. Both of them have won one match apiece against each other.

Fritz comes into this quarterfinal brimming with confidence after his dominating 6-1, 6-2 win over Holger Rune, where he fired 9 aces and hit 73% of his first serves, saving all break points. Goffin was also impressive in beating Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-5 with his usual baseline game and tactically sound patterns of play.

Taylor Fritz will be looking to dominate with his serve and forehand-two weapons that have carried him to this stage. The key for him will be trying to keep the points short and not get into extended rallies where Goffin's superior movement could test his patience. Fritz has been particularly effective on his first serve, winning 86% of those points against Rune, and will need similar numbers to place pressure on Goffin's return game.

Another good run at Shanghai has been from 66-ranked David Goffin, who won in solid style over Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-5. At the moment, recent form for Goffin shows 8 wins out of his last 10 matches, and coverage of the game on the court with counter-punching is his big idea. His 65% of first serve points won and well-implemented 62% second serve return points won against Zverev underlined his ability to turn defense into offense.

He will need to try to make as many returns in play to make longer rallies where he does best. With precise groundstrokes, Goffin can then force Fritz to move around the court into awkward defensive positions.

Of course, the ability of Goffin to counterpunch and extend the rallies will be important. He has to force errors from Fritz by being firm from the baseline and capitalizing on any impatience that arises from Fritz.

This should theoretically advantage Fritz on fast hard courts like Shanghai, where he can get the best out of his serve and power game. Goffin will look to counter-punch to challenge Fritz's patience. The American has improved in long rallies, though. Fritz is in better form going into this match, and might thus have the edge in terms of dictating play, but Goffin's tactical nous could keep him in touch.

• Under 22 Games @ 1.64 Odds
• Under 21.5 Games @ 1.75 Odds
• Correct Score 2-0 @ 1.61 Odds