Lucas Pouille (Fra) vs. John Isner (Usa) – Score prediction (9.10.2019)

Overview.

A frustrated Lucas Pouille fought back from a set and break deficit against the world #231 and wildcard entrant Zhe Li to maintain his perfect record (3-0) in the first round of Shanghai Masters. The Frenchman lost the first set in the tiebreaker and dropped his serve early in the second but managed to get his act together and went onto dominate the rest of the match, 6-7 6-4 6-4. Former world #10 Lucas Pouille, who reached the quarterfinal in Tokyo last week, heads into this clash with a 1-1 record in the second round of Shanghai Masters, having defeated Nicolas Almagro in 2016 and lost to Fabio Fognini in 2017.

The Frenchman played only four matches on tour after the US Open in 2018 and could win only one of them, which gives him an excellent opportunity to put together a winning run and improve his ranking in the upcoming weeks. John Isner put in a strong serving performance to knock out the reigning ATP Zhuhai champion Alex de Minaur in the first round of Shanghai Masters on Tuesday. He fired a whopping 18 aces and did not face a breakpoint on his serve, 7-6 6-4.

The big-serving American’s Asian swing so far has been pretty much similar to that of his opponent Lucas Pouille as he began with an opening-round exit in Chengdu and made it to the quarterfinal in Beijing last week. Former world #38 John Isner has got a solid 4-2 record in the second round of Shanghai Masters, including winning the recent three such matches against Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2017, David Goffin in 2015 and Steve Johnson in 2014.

Being a bit more solid and consistent makes John Isner the slight favorite in the pair’s first-ever meeting. That said, Lucas Pouille is very much capable of winning this matchup, and a place in the round of 16 in Shanghai is not beyond his reach.

Match Info.

Competition: ATP – SINGLES: Shanghai (China), hard – 1/16-finals
Start: 9.10.2019, 4:30 UTC.