Tommy Paul vs Roman Safiullin Prediction: The Russian is rated as a notable outsider

One of the matches of the second round of the US Open Tennis Championships will be a duel between Tommy Paul, world No. 14, and Roman Safiullin, world No. 60. The two men have played each other once before, in April 2014 on a Madrid court, and the Russian won that match in two games, and is rated as a notable outsider in the pairing.

Before the US Open, Paul played several hard-court tournaments, the most successful of which was the Toronto Masters, where the American reached the semifinals. In the first round of the Majors, Paul was stronger than the 233rd-ranked player in the world, Italian Travaglia. The match lasted two hours and 30 minutes. Travaglia managed to win the third set with a score of 6:4, but in the fourth set, he lost with a score of 1:6. During the game, Paul served 14 times with two double faults, won 73% of his points on first serve and 56% on second serve.

Before the US Open, Safiullin played two matches on hard courts, both of which he lost. First, he lost to Chile's Harri in Cincinnati and then to Argentina's Cherundolo in Winston-Salem in three sets. But Safiullin's start at the Majors was as good as it could be; Roman easily beat the Italian Cecchinato, the 109th ranked player in the world, in three sets with the score 6:4, 6:2, 6:0. During the game, Roman served 12 times with three double faults, won 82% of points on the first serve and 59% on the second.

Despite the head-to-head statistics, we believe Tommy Paul is deservedly listed as the favorite for the upcoming game. The American looked good at the hardcourt Masters that preceded the Majors, especially in Toronto, while Safiullin failed in Ohio and Winston-Salem. Roman played well against Cecchinato in the first round of the Majors, but you can't compare the Italian and the American in rclass. We believe that Paul will get a confident victory on Wednesday; the maximum that will be enough for Safiullin in the upcoming game is a victory in one set.