Top seed and soon-to-be official world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev will continue his quest for his first title of 2022 against Yoshihito Nishioka, while Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal faces Tommy Paul on Thursday in Acapulco.
(1) Daniil Medvedev vs. (Q) Yoshihito Nishioka
Daniil Medvedev has been mowing down his opponents in Acapulco. The Russian (and new world No. 1 when the rankings come out on Monday) hasn’t dropped a set yet this week. He sent Benoit Paire packing in the first round and dismantled Pablo Andujar in the second. He has become something of a hard-court specialist, proving his mettle on his favorite surface by winning the U.S. Open in 2021 and making the final in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago.
The Russian’s quarterfinal opponent is the qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka. The Japanese lefty is ranked No. 103 in the world, but he has performed significantly above his ranking in Acapulco so far. He took out wild card Feliciano Lopez in the first round and posted an upset win over top American Taylor Fritz on Wednesday.
Certainly Medvedev is the prohibitive favorite in this one. The top seed is playing on his favorite surface and he has shown nothing but great form this week. Still, with Nishioka playing as well as he has the underdog might make Medvedev work for it.
Cheryl pick: Medvedev in 2
Ricky pick: Medvedev in 2
(4) Rafael Nadal vs. Tommy Paul
Like his Australian Open final opponent, Rafael Nadal is playing awesome tennis. The Spaniard is undefeated so far in 2022, with a career-best 12-0 start to his season. He has titles from the Melbourne 250 event and the Australian Open to show for his efforts.
Nadal is a three-time Acapulco champion. The world No. 5 last won the event back in 2020, when he beat Fritz in the final. Nadal hasn’t been tested so far this week; he delivered a pair of easy straight-set wins over Denis Kudla and Stefan Kozlov in the first two rounds. Nadal did drop serve unexpectedly against Kozlov in the second set of their second- round match, but other than that it has been business as usual.
Tommy Paul, ranked 39th in the world, faced Matteo Berrettini in the first round but the Italian sustained an abdominal injury and was forced to retire in the second set. Paul had a fierce three-set battle with Dusan Lajovic to earn his spot in the quarters.
This will be the first meeting between Nadal and Paul. While the American had a decent start to the season with a pair of quarterfinal results in Australia and a semi last week in Delray Beach, Nadal’s form suggests that he will advance in routine fashion.
Cheryl pick: Nadal in 2
Ricky pick: Nadal in 2
WWW?
Nadal has really gone up another gear, eh. Probably just coincidence.
It wasn’t exactly routine but Rafa is through to the semi v Meddy. Rafa looked out of sorts from the beginning of the match. Tommy looked lost at sea in the first set. He came to life in the 2nd set and there were about a million breaks and re-breaks. Thankfully, Rafa edged out the tb – thankfully, because I had no stomach for more of that match and it’s past my bedtime.
Rafa was definitely out of sorts. He was sweating profusely and his shirt was soaked. Tommy never played him before and looked just lost in the first set. But he got it together in the second set. Really surprising to see Rafa broken thre times in that second set.
Needless to say he will have to play better against Med.