Ben Shelton is the top remaining seed in Washington, D.C. and he will try to secure a spot in the title match when he faces Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Saturday will also see Alex de Minaur and Corentin Moutet in action.
(12) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. (4) Ben Shelton
Fatigue could be a factor–and a significant one–when Shelton and Davidovich Fokina do battle in the Mubadala Citi Open semifinals on Saturday night. In the quarterfinals Davidovich Fokina beat Taylor Fritz 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 in three hours and four minutes, a thriller that ended at 1:50 am and left both guys utterly exhausted.
The good news for the 26th-ranked Spaniard is that he leads the head-to-head series 2-0. However, both matches were three-setters; one was in 2023 (Paris Masters) and the other was on clay (2025 Monte-Carlo Masters). Shelton should have a much better chance at home in the United States amidst conditions that are great for his game. The eighth-ranked American has not dropped a single set in Washington, D.C. while defeating Mackenzie McDonald, Gabriel Diallo, and Frances Tiafoe. Shelton is in spectacular form and now gets an opponent who has to be running on fumes, so this should be one-way traffic.
Pick: Shelton in 2
(LL) Corentin Moutet vs. (7) Alex de Minaur
Moutet got a lucky-loser spot in the main draw after losing to Yibing Wu in the final round of qualifying, and the Frenchman’s gain has been everyone else’s pain so far this week. He went straight to the second round when Holger Rune pulled out and has since knocked off Alexandre Muller (6-0, 6-1), Dan Evans, and Daniil Medvedev. The world No. 59 has now won 19 tour-level matches in 2025 and he will break into the top 50 for the first time in his career on Monday.
Up next for Moutet is a second meeting with De Minaur, nine years after the Aussie rolled 6-1, 6-3 at the 2016 Mouilleron Le Captif Challenger. De Minaur comes in at 13th in the rankings after playing well at Wimbledon, where he reached the fourth round before losing to Novak Djokovic in four sets. The No. 7 seed loves the time of year; he is a two-time champion of the now-defunct Atlanta event and so far in Washington he has ousted Bu Yunchaokete, Jiri Lehecka, and Brandon Nakashima. De Minaur cruised past Nakashima in one hour and 25 minutes on Friday, while Moutet survived a two-hour and 25-minute battle with Medvedev during which both players struggled in the mid-afternoon heat. As well as Moutet is playing, every advantage in this matchup goes to De Minaur.
Pick: De Minaur in 2
