Taylor Fritz vs Shintaro Mochizuki Prediction & Betting Tips - Tokyo, Japan

Prediction published on 18/10/2023, 07:21  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 18/10/2023 at 21:00 in Tennis Predictions

Defending champion and top seed Taylor Fritz doesn't have any seeds between him and the Japan Open semi-finals. He takes on wild card Shintaro Mochizuki in the second round of this hard court tournament. For the winner there's a quarter final against either unseeded Alexei Popyrin or qualifier Christian Garin. Fritz is one of only four seeds remaining in the tournament. He began this week ranked tenth in the world and ninth in the Live ATP Race. Successfully retaining his title will see him in the top eight positions needed to play in the Tour Finals. Fritz had a difficult first round match against Cameron Norrie. He showed good form though and won that match in straight sets. His form on hard courts in the second half of 2023 is solid. He won the Atlanta tournament and has reached at least the last eight in four of his last six events on this surface.

Shintaro Mochizuki is the world number 215 with a career high of 192nd. He received a wild card to play in the Japan Open and beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round. That straight sets victory has seen him equal his career high. The 20-year-old has spent a lot of this year playing on the Challenger Tour with some a title won on clay and a quarter final on hard courts. Before this tournament he hadn't won a main draw matc this year in an ATP Tour main draw event. Fritz is our confident tip to win this in straight sets.