Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will continue their Acapulco campaigns during quarterfinal action on Thursday. Djokovic has an intriguing contest on his hands against Nick Kyrgios, while Nadal is a heavy favorite over Yoshihito Nishioka.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (6) Nick Kyrgios
Djokovic and Kyrgios will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they battle for a place in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel on Thursday. For a moment it looked like this showdown would pit Kyrgios against Juan Martin Del Potro, but Djokovic recovered from a break down in the third set to outlast the Argentine 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in an entertaining thriller that lasted two hours and 38 minutes on Wednesday night. The second-ranked Serb, who is bouncing back from a second-round Australian Open loss to Denis Istomin, preceded his victory over Del Potro by beating Martin Klizan 6-3, 7-6(4) on Tuesday.
Kyrgios’ trek to the last eight has been mostly straightforward, although he did drop his opening set of the week to Dudi Sela and managed to get into some controversy with Israeli fans. The 17th-ranked Australian ended up cruising past Sela 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 before defeating Donald Young 6-2, 6-4 in round two. Kyrgios will have to serve better than he did against Young (78 percent of first-serve points won, 55 percent of second-serve points one) if he has hopes of upsetting one of the best returners in the game.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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(Q) Yoshihito Nishioka vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal is showing no signs of any hangover in the aftermath of a brutal five-set loss to Roger Federer in the Australian Open final, and that is putting it mildly. Not only has the sixth-ranked Spaniard won his first two matches in Acapulco, but he has also done so while dropping a total of nine games in four sets–including a 6-1, 6-1 beatdown of Paolo Lorenzi on Wednesday night. Nadal is now 12-0 lifetime at this tournament, although his first 10 victories (and two titles) came on clay courts.
Up next for the No. 2 seed on Thursday is a first-ever meeting with Nishioka, who has already picked up four victories this week. The world No. 86 from Japan earned a place in the main draw by beating Tobias Kamke and Ryan Harrison before getting the best of Jack Sock and Jordan Thompson. Nishioka has needed three sets in each of his last three wins, which will not help his chances given that he is a counter-puncher who will be scrambling all over the court against an opponent who has been playing encouragingly aggressive tennis in Acapulco.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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