Taylor Fritz vs Cameron Norrie: 2023 Japan Open Tokyo - Preview & Prediction

Taylor Fritz is back at the Japan Open in Tokyo, where he lifted a trophy last year, and he'll take on Cameron Norrie in the event's first round.

The Japan Open event has a strong draw, with plenty of great matchups in the early rounds. One of those matchups is between Taylor Fritz and Cameron Norrie, which is fascinating as both hover around the Top 10 and have done so for a long time now.

Norrie, of course, hasn't had a very good season this year and has been pretty poor lately, which should boost the chances of Fritz, especially considering that he actually went the whole way last year. He was the champion, beating compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the final.

Head-to-head:

Another contributing factor is the H2H on the ATP Tour, which favours Fritz, albeit barely. They played an amazing 13 times already, with Fritz leading 7-6. The only match this year happened very early in the season, and it was won by Fritz.

They did play four times last year, and Fritz actually won three of those matches, which sort of shows that the matchup does favour him.

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Prediction:

The reason why it favours him is rather simple. The American has the bigger weapons compared to Norrie and ultimately, in today's tennis, that' matters. Fritz has the better serve and far stronger baseline play.

Norrie is not bad by any means, but his tennis mostly comes down to grinding out rallies and forcing your opponents to miss. It can work against Fritz and worked plenty of time in the past, but he's gotten to a level right now where it's less and less likely to work.

With the conditions in Tokyo and how he performed there last year, it's shaping up to be a favourable matchup for Fritz. I think he'll win comfortably.

Prediction: Taylor Fritz to win in two sets.

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