A blockbuster quarterfinal battle on Friday in Vienna will pit top-seeded Dominic Thiem against Kei Nishikori. Meanwhile, in-form competitors Kevin Anderson and Borna Coric are also aiming for a place in the semis.
(1) Dominic Thiem vs. (5) Kei Nishikori
There will be plenty at stake when Thiem and Nishikori face each other for the fourth time in their careers during quarterfinal action at the Erste Bank Open on Friday. Nishikori is in serious contention for a spot in the Nitto ATP Finals, while Thiem is the top seed and one of the favorites this week to capture one of the biggest titles of his career in front of the home Austrian crowd.
Thiem has already triumphed once this fall, lifting the trophy in St. Petersburg. The world No. 7, who is extremely close to clinching a London berth, has advanced so far in Vienna with straight-set defeats of Ruben Bemelmans and Sam Querrey. Nishikori held off Frances Tiafoe 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2 before trouncing recent Moscow champion Karen Khachanov 6-2, 6-2. Japan’s top player is now 38-17 for the season and 10-3 during this fall swing. A slight edge may go to Thiem, who is more rested than usual at this point in the year and should also benefit from home-court advantage.
Pick: Thiem in 3
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(6) Borna Coric vs. (2) Kevin Anderson
Anderson and Coric will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers on Friday. The head-to-head series stands at 3-1 in favor of Anderson, who prevailed in straight sets twice in 2015 (Winston-Salem, Basel) and at the 2017 U.S. Open. Coric, however, pulled off a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) upset during his run to this year’s Indian Wells semifinals. The 13th-ranked Croat has been playing stellar tennis the whole way in 2018, with a 38-18 record that includes a runner-up performance at the Shanghai Masters. He punched his ticket to the Vienna quarters by coming back from set deficits against both Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Lucas Pouille.
Like Coric, Anderson has been outstanding from start to finish this season–to the extent that he will soon clinch a debut spot in the year-end championship. The eighth-ranked South African reached the Wimbledon final and he is coming off a quarterfinal showing in Shanghai, where he also lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Anderson scraped past Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 in his Vienna opener before getting a walkover from Jurgen Melzer. The 32-year-old has never been at his absolute best during the fall swing and Coric is a proven force against top-10 opponents other than Djokovic, so a minor upset may be in the cards
Pick: Coric in 3
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Nishi and Coric in 3