Jannik Sinner vs Steve Johnson Prediction & Betting Tips - Washington, USA

Prediction published on 05/08/2021, 17:25  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 05/08/2021 at 18:26 in Tennis Predictions

Fifth seeded Jannik Sinner takes on Steve Johnson in the last eight of the Citi Open. The winner of this match faces either 11th seeded John Millman or unseeded Jenson Brooksby in the semi-final. Sinner is 24th in the world rankings but up to 22nd in the live rankings. He's 13th in terms of the number of ranking points earned this year. A strong run of form over the next few months, especially in Masters events and the US Open could yet get him into the Tour Finals. 2021 began with him in 37th place so he's been making huge strides this year. He did get as high as 17th in the rankings this year. Sinner won a tournament in Melbourne at the start of the year and then got to the final of the Miami Masters, losing to Hubert Hurkacz. His form did dip though and before this week, he'd lost his last four matches. This week has gone better though with wins over Emil Ruusuvuori and 12th seeded Sebastian Korda with two sets both won by tie-breaks.

Steve Johnson began this week down at 81st place in the rankings. The 31-year-old American was as high as 25th five years ago and has slipped eight places since the start of the year. His run to the last eight of this tournament has him up to 76th and a win over Sinner will take him back into the top 70. His year didn't really get off the ground until the French Open. He lost in his first match in his first five tournaments of the year. Then he got a win over Frances Tiafoe at Roland Garros and made it to the third round. He lost a five-setter to Taylor Fritz in the second round at Wimbledon, who also beat him in  Los Cabos and then Atlanta last week. He'll be glad that Fritz lost in the second round of this tournament. This week has seen Johnson beat Ramkumar Ramanathan, third seeded Alex de Minaur (after losing the first set) and Ricardas Barankis for the loss of just three games. He's had one previous match against Sinner, losing to him in three sets two years ago on clay in Rome. Sinner has come on a great deal since then and can get another win over the American.