Frances Tiafoe faces former British No. 1 Cameron Norrie in Tuesday's first-round match at the Vienna Open, keen to avoid early elimination.
Although the American player is the favourite to advance to the last 16, struggles post-US Open have seen the 2021 runner-up in Vienna fail to make deep runs at recent tournaments, thus giving the Briton a chance in their third ATP Tour match-up.
Match preview
Tiafoe may have benefitted from the addition of David Witt to his team before the final Major of 2024, but the 26-year-old's form has dipped since his semi-final exit to Taylor Fritz in New York.
The world No. 15 had a mixed showing at the Laver Cup, defeating Daniil Medvedev and losing to Alexander Zverev, and that erratic run has persisted.
The American lost his tournament-opening match in Tokyo to countryman Brandon Nakashima, exited controversially in round three of the Shanghai Masters at the hands of Roman Safiullin before launching an explicit tirade at the umpire and could only secure one triumph at the ATP 250 event in Almaty before falling to Aleksandar Vukic.
Entering the Erste Bank Open with a 3-4 record since his last-four defeat by Fritz, the fifth seed hopes to turn the tide in the hope of making a deep run at this year's event.
Standing in his path is Norrie, whose summer was hampered by an arm injury that sidelined the 29-year-old for three months.
Due to that layoff, the current British No. 2 missed the Olympics and US Open, but he has had some joy since returning this month, advancing to the quarter-final of the Challenger event in Roanne before falling in three sets to Luca Van Assche.
Although the Briton could not build on that run as he lost early in Stockholm, exiting to Miomir Kecmanovic in two sets, the five-time Tour-level champion aims for the biggest victory since returning from injury.
His best run at an ATP 500 event this year came in Rio, where he advanced to the semi-final in the clay-court event, even if much time has passed for the player who has fallen to 53rd in the world following said arm injury.
Head To Head
Indian Wells (2023) - Quarter-final: Tiafoe 6-4 6-4
Delray Beach (2021) - Quarter-final: Norrie 6-0 3-6 6-4
Both players are tied 1-1 heading into their third meeting on the men's tour, with Tiafoe levelling their head-to-head at last year's Indian Wells quarter-final.
Previous matches have been on hard courts, and Tuesday will be no different when the victor aims to take a 2-1 lead.
Tiafoe heads into Vienna with a 32-24 record in 2024, which outdoes Norrie's 17-16 win-loss statistic.
We say:Tiafoe to win in two sets
Although the American's form has tailed off after the final Grand Slam of 2024, Tuesday's encounter might have come too soon for the returning Norrie, who is not anticipated to shock his higher-ranked opponent.
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