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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Switching off. So many unforced errors.
Poor tennis.
hang in there for the beginning of the second set hawks
Ok.
God he’s so frustrating.
Rafa is in crisis atm..and he’s trying to sort it out very hard..we can see it from his face very clearly…he’s thinking so hard!C’mon rafa!!U can do it!!
That’s his problem.
He thinks too much.
Yes!!!!!1 set in hand!!Rafa finally find a way to win..and that is enough for now!
Oh goodness! I totally forgot that Rafa’s match started earlier! So I tune in and see that he is in a TB! What on earth! With Nishioka?
At least he won it, but this is just shocking! I assume he is not playing well. Maybe it was just as well that I missed the first set!
Maybe now Rafa will take charge and get this second set and be done with it!
Hey I just noticed! No tape on Rafa’s knee!
Thank goodness!
Come on Rafa! This is Nishioka and you are Rafael Nadal!
Nny!!..Yeah,it’s a good thing u missed a whole lot of the 1st set…Our rafa forgot to bring his twin[vintage rafa of old-14 slam winner!]..instead he brought the 2015 vintage rafa![as hawkeye has stated]…but at least he bagged 1st set already!!That’s something!!
MA,
Yes, I think it’s best that I missed it! I would be freaking out all over the place!
I do not believe it! Break point for Nishioka!
?
Nny!!..yeah..you’re absolutely right!rafa is being sooooo uncharacteristically out of himself today…but talking about it only will make us more frustrated and angry…but i believe rafa is trying very hard atm to dig himself out from this crazy situation that he is in…but,u know what?I still believe that he still will win 2!!hehe….VAMOS RAFA!!
15-40
Break Rafa!
Is it a coincidence that he face this trouble when he play at 3:30pm?when the last 2 matches he played in the evening when the condition was a little bit cooler and humidity also not as high?And the result as we all know…was amazing!!I bet the ball also pretty much different compared to the evening/night?
MA,
You may have a point. But Rafa is usually really good at adjusting to the conditions. Maybe the humidity is worse earlier. It seems to be pretty bad at Acapulco.
MA,
Oh I believe Rafa will win in the end!
Rafa breaks!
?
Nny!!…I think rafa start to warming up to the condition really well now…and once again,is it a coincidence as soon as the sun goes down,he start to show more and more of the vintage rafa?Hmm interesting!hehe..and yeah Nny..rafa will make the young japanese crumble in the end!That’s what i still believe!..Yeah!vamos rafa!!
MA,
Well, Rafa had to struggle to consolidate the break. I just want him to get this done! He needs to hold serve for two more games!
Wow, it’s incredible that Nishioka made the QF. He gets to have a match v Rafa! And it appears he held his own for the first. This is big for Nishioka. He’ll be well inside the top 100 I think.
But no way is Nishioka winning.
so many bad UE off the forehand….annoying.
Insyaallah,he will do it Nny…we have to be patient okay?take a look at novak yesterday..great champion ALWAYS find a way to win!
Yes, but Rafa is missing shots he would make in his sleep. Forehand had been really off and even the backhand. Maybe just a bad day at the office for Rafa.
I hope so! he needs to improve big time for the next match.
break here and take it!!
Yes, end it now!
Okay, match point!
Go for it, Rafa!
Rafa is in the semis!
??❤️
Rafa will clean it up vs Cilic.
My WTA winner pick LOST, AM. And Ostapenko is losing to Tsurenko. That was a dumb pick – Ostapenko. But I have no way of watching WTA LIVE this week.
Really rc?I have to check mine!I forgot who i picked!hehe…but your ATP Dubai and Acapulco are ROCK rc!!!!Woooohooo!!
Btw…i pick Mladenovic for a winner here…not sure now she will win or not…she engaged in an epic classic with watson yesterday for 3 hours right rc?
Mladenovic got an easy win over Flipkens. Kiki is into the SF!
I wave bye-bye to you as you fly past ? 🙂
really rc?i will fly past u?What if one of my pick get eliminate too?
yes you will! Because you made the better picks. I picked Puig to win = bad. You picked Kiki, right? She’s looking great. And Tsurenko is stomping on Ostapenko – I have no way of watching WTA LIVE — just following scores.
What’s on right now (on Tennis Channel) is Sam Querrey absolutely stomping Thiem in their first set, 6-1. Not a pretty sight!
Yeah rc,not a pretty sight but Thiem seems to awake in the 2nd sets…sometimes it’s hardto contain with a servebot!
YES!!!!!WooooHooooo!!!Win at last!!!!yeah!!!That’s all that matters!!!woooohoooo!
What is going on with Thiem? Querrey just blew him away in that first set!
Nny…i don’t think there’s nothing wrong with Thiem…it’s just Querrey just have one of those days that everything he touch will turn to gold..and if we look at the tennis landscape these last week with Rog been dumped out by a 116th rank!..and Novak been given a very stern challenged by DelPo yesterday and Andy also had to save 7 match points against Philip?…so,i think i’m not surprised anymore with Thiem also been dumped out by Querry…and Thiem has played too much tennis these past month..i think it’s caught up with him..
Rafa is throught to SFs! ✌ Woot!
Great last game! 6-3! phewwww
We are right Nny!!Rafa will find a way to win!!!!I LOVE U RAFA!!!Woooohooo!!VAMOS!!!