Kyrian Jacquet vs Grigor Dimitrov Prediction: Grigor Dimitrov will advance

Analysis and prediction for the US Open Round 128 match between Kyrian Jacquet and Grigor Dimitrov on the 26th August 2024.

Kyrian Jacquet has built his profile gradually. Now ranked outside the top 200, he's had to come through qualifying to make the main draw in New York. Jacquet has shown a good fight and a solid baseline game, which served him so well in recent matches during the qualifiers on hard courts. He defeated Tim Van Rijthoven and Chan Hong in qualifying, and this showed his mental toughness right there in serving, where the percentage of wins after his first serve has been at around 77% throughout. He hasn't found much consistency there, though, on his second serve and during longer rallies.

Grigor Dimitrov comes into the US Open off a mixed bag of results during the North American hard-court swing. Dimitrov has shown flashes of his top form; one such is at the Montreal Masters, where he secured a solid win over Rinky Hijikata but was defeated, in a very tight three-setter, by Alexei Popyrin. Overall, his form this season has been decent, going deep in a few tournaments, but he has really wrestled with the fact of closing out too many of the top-tier matches. Dimitrov's strong suit is his versatile game, especially one of his biggest tools—the one-handed backhand—and the ability to switch things up with slice and net approaches. Under pressure, the serve has often been his liability, as has his occasional lack of concentration.

The current form still hugely favors Grigor Dimitrov for this match, but he could be in for a lot more of a fight than people anticipate. Jacquet's momentum and newfound confidence make him a tricky opponent if Dimitrov isn't able to find some consistency.

• Grigor Dimitrov Win and Over 28.5 Games at 1.64 Odds
• Kyrian Jacquet (+2.5) Games Handicap at 2.21 Odds
• Total 4 sets at 3.20 Odds