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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who ya got?
Rafa in two losing 3-4 games and Kyrgios in three
Kyrgios’ stats for the game against Sela are altered by that 1st set where he had eyes problems and was treated for that in every break.
Not relevant stats.
who said they were relevant?
I picked Nole to make the final and lose to Rafa.
But I wasn’t confident that Nole would make it that far. He could lose to Kyrgios.
Rafa in 2 easy sets.
Nishioka plays a bit like Ferrer. He is very quick around the court and good at retrieving balls from everywhere. Rafa should try and keep the points short and not try and counterpunch with him; also play lots of dtl shots.
finally some real predictions on a upset. I got djokovic to win but its about 65% chance at best. His form is not peaking.
Rafa should once again have an easy time of it with Nishioka, winning in 2 sets.
Novak and Kyrgios should be interesting. I expect that Kyrgios will be motivated for this match. He can be hit and miss depending on his mood, but if he comes out and plays the way he is capable of playing then we could have another great match.
Novak will have gotten a boost from his win over Delpo. I think this match will go 3 sets. My sense is that Novak will prevail.
Andy Murray should be a huge upset alarm his next match because he wasn’t playing top level and also he played 3 hour plus today. He might be very tired.
Cilic gets a WO as Johnson has an ankle injury.
For the past few weeks have only been able to watch the odd match here and there on catch up but did get to see Rafa v. Zeverev. Was alarmed when I saw his knee was bandaged. Does he have a recurrence of the knee tendonitis?
Just taped it prior to his first round match He felt something in warm ups.
#EmptySeats
#TBT
That’s reassuring. Thanks Hawkeye. Pray it stays that way.
Nishioka crushing Nadal in the early stages!
Anyone would. Rafa’s leaving too many balls short and too many UEs.
Rafa hitting short. He had a concerned look on his face before the match that made me wonder.
Maybe it’s the knee affecting him mentally if not physically.
Joker in straight, and Rafa in straight as well….and will TC show a replay of Kohl-Murray tb?…I hope so!
Please no injury, please!! he looks so underconfident today 🙁
Some good but very inconsistent, poor execution and not looking confident.
Seems to be slowly raising his game.
The commentating on the tennistv feed is horrible. Especially the woman. No clue. Just repeated rhetoric.
Nishioka playing Nishi’s game…Rafa reverts to his old style of play engaging in the long rallies, camping at the baseline and making way too many UEs. Rafa’s body does no longer allow him to play grueling matches, he should shorten points and approach the net more often!
Rafa should always have a plan B for the matches like these…
So today is the day this ‘rafa’ will turn up…i actually expect ‘him’ in the 1st round,knowing him not play tennis for weeks!..so,this ‘rafa’ is due actually…we all know,this ‘rafa’ also a part of the classic,amazing,incredible and 14 slams winner…and ‘they’ both will joined together soon and will find a way to win!That’s what i believe…insyaallah!..VAMOS RAFA!!!
Vintage 2015 Rafa.
true
This is how I worry about him playing vs Nole.
If he keeps this up, I won’t have to.