Andy Schooler landed a full house of three winners in the second round of the Cincinnati Open. Here’s his look at round three.
Tennis tips: Cincinnati Open
1.25pts Alexander Blockx to beat Flavio Cobolli at 5/6 (BoyleSports, Spreadex, SportingIndex)
1pt Frances Tiafoe to beat Learner Tien at 13/10 (General)
Alexander Blockx v Flavio Cobolli (Mon)
Cobolli is something of a confidence player and we saw how effective he can be when he’s in the groove at this year’s French Open where he made the final.
However, he arrives at this match having lost three of his last four matches and I do wonder if his shock loss to Arthur Fery in the Wimbledon quarter-finals has had a lasting effect.
Like Cobolli, Blockx’s best results have come on clay. Unlike Cobolli, he’s been winning plenty of matches since Wimbledon, making the final in Estoril.
We saw how devastating his serve can be with his excellent run in the helpful conditions of Madrid and his big first delivery should work well in Ohio too.
That was certainly the case in his opening match against Mariano Navone when he served 11 aces and went unbroken.
Notably, Blockx also held serve throughout his only previous meeting with Cobolli, which came in Monte Carlo earlier this year.
If he finds his rhythm on serve again, I can see the Belgian emerging victorious.
Learner Tien v Frances Tiafoe (Tue)
Finding bets in this round has proved more difficult than in round two when this column landed a tasty profit but I do think Tiafoe has potential as the underdog here.
Of the two, Tien has been the form player on the North American hardcourts, reaching the semis in Montreal last week.
However, Tiafoe usually delivers a performance or two at this time of the season – he’s the archetypal American who seems to love playing in front of his home crowd – and it should be remembered he reached the final here in 2024 and only injury halted him when he returned 12 months ago.
He went unbroken against Lorenzo Sonego in the last round and a strong serving display here could lay the platform for success.
The pair have met twice before, both on hardcourts, and it’s one apiece. Tien won this season’s clash, 7-5 in the third in Delray Beach.
However, a notable takeaway from those matches is the success Tiafoe has had on return – he’s created 38 break points in six sets, being particularly brutal on Tien’s second serve which has failed to win 40% of the points in both contests.
It’s probably a little quicker than ideal for Tien here and, with tennis in his legs, I will not be surprised if Tiafoe wins this at 13/10.
Posted 09:00 BST on 17/08/2026
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