Frances Tiafoe vs Luciano Darderi Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Houston

Prediction published on 06/04/2024, 04:25  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 06/04/2024 at 08:45 in Tennis Predictions

Third seed and defending champion Frances Tiafoe takes on unseeded Luciano Darderi for a place in the US Clay Court Championships. The winner of this match will have a title decider against either top seed Ben Shelton or fourth seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Tiafoe is the world number 21 but downa a couple of places in the live list. That's due to him defending all the points he earned when winning this ATP 250 event in 2023. The American has had to play two matches to get to this semifinal. His opening match saw him have to go to three sets to get past unseeded James Duckworth, losing the middle one. Smoother progress was made in he last eight as he beat sixth seeded Jordan Thompson in straight sets.

Unseeded Luciano Darderi has set a new career high this week. He's risen from 72nd to 63rd thanks to this run in Houston. The Italian is much more at home on clay and had lost both of his hard court matches played in 2024. Darderi has already won one clay court tournament this year. He was the title winner in Cordoba and it took a massive effort to do so. Darderi came through the qualifying rounds and had to win seven matches to lift the trophy. He also reached the last eight in Santiago. This tournament has seen him win three matches to get to the last four. He lost a set in both of his first two played and had to come from behind in round one to defeat Denis Kudla. A win over second seed Francisco Cerundolo followed and in the last eight he beat seventh seeded Marcos Giron without dropping a set, winning the first to love. We tip Frances Tiafoe to win this match.