Americans Donald Young and Sam Querrey will hope to pull off upsets in Tokyo on Wednesday. Young is facing Marin Cilic in first-round action, while Querrey is going up against Kei Nishikori with a spot in the quarterfinals at stake.
(6) Marin Cilic vs. (Q) Donald Young
Cilic and Young will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they clash in round one of the Rakuten Japan Open on Wednesday. Their only previous meeting came four years ago at the Australian Open, where Cilic cruised 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Fast forward to 2015 an both players are obviously much different now. Cilic, of course, is a Grand Slam champion (2014 U.S. Open). The 14th-ranked Croat has bounced back from an injury-plagued start to this season with a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon and a semifinal performance in New York.
Young has dipped in and out of relevancy in recent years, but for the moment he is trending upward. The 51st-ranked American’s 2015 campaign includes 20 ATP-level match wins, a semifinal finish in Memphis, and a third-round effort in Montreal as a qualifier. Young reached new heights at the U.S. Open by reaching the fourth round while staging pair of comebacks from two sets down–against Gilles Simon and Viktor Troicki. Young maintained his fine form by qualifying for the main draw earlier this week in Tokyo. The underdog is dangerous, but in the end Cilic will be too powerful and should hit Young off the court.
Pick:Â Cilic in 3
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Sam Querrey vs. (2) Kei Nishikori
Nishikori’s title defense got off to an inauspicious start on Monday, but he bounced back from an awful first set to overcome Borna Coric 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Japan’s top player is now 13-1 in his last 14 matches at this tournament as he eyes a third winner’s trophy in the last four seasons. Overall in 2015, Nishikori is 49-11 and on is way to a return trip to the World Tour Finals.
Up next for the No. 2 seed is a seventh career encounter with Querrey. The head-to-head series stands at 3-3, with Nishikori leading 3-2 on hard courts. They most recently faced each other early this year indoors in Memphis, where Querrey lost a 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) thriller. The 50th-ranked American is a mediocre 20-21 on the season but he opened on Monday in Tokyo with a stellar 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov. One of the more inconsistent players on tour, Querrey may be hard-pressed to string together two such performances in succession–especially with Nishikori on the other side of the net. The fan favorite clearly loves this event and he seems well on his way to more success based on his last two sets against Coric.
Pick:Â Nishikori in 2
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Nishikori in 2 and Cilic in 2
20-21 is pretty mediocre for sam…maybe a better season in ’16
it is Sam
Cilic less than impressive. UEs galore and his serve % has gone southwards.
First set was good
Cilic and Stan both played some atrocious tennis today.
Cilic was good for a set. I stopped watching after that.
Stan has been terrible since the French Open, so this isn’t really news
Every time Stan form goes down he has ‘woman’ problems
Giles Muller pulling off upset after upset in Tokyo, he beat Anderson and now Chardy.
so good when he plays well
was anderson or chardy injured? I noticed they pull out of doubles
good question
Anderson right knee
I watched muller in atlanta cuz that’s where I live and I watched everyone of his matches just because he is so smooth to watch his serve is awesome and his groin does keep improving. Against baghdatis me and like three other ppl were rooting for him and like everyone else was for baghdatis cuz he’s such a fan favorite I guess. All I know is muller Isner would’ve been much better final and muller would’ve had better chance than baghdatis especially after he got injured during final.
Muller loves Atlanta. His match vs Baghdatis was the match of the tournament.
Isner and Muller played once in Atlanta and Isner won 9-7 in the third set breaker. So, yep.