Australia will try to keep its ATP Cup hopes mathematically alive when it goes up against Greece on Wednesday. Alex de Minaur has a tough matchup on his hands with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Also in action are Russia and Japan.
(GRE) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (AUS) Alex de Minaur
Tsitsipas and de Minaur will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers when they clash at the ATP Cup on Wednesday evening. All three of their previous main-tour encounters have gone the way of Tsitsipas, who leads the overall head-to-head series 5-1. He is 4-0 lifetime against de Minaur on hard courts after most recently prevailing 6-3, 6-4 at the 2019 Paris Masters.
The good news for de Minaur is that he already has one match under his belt this week, whereas Greece is taking the court for the first time. However, de Minaur lost the second singles rubber in Australia’s 3-0 setback against Spain as he fell to Roberto Bautista Agut 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. This won’t be an easy first appearance of the season for Tsitsipas, but he will likely have the edge once again in what should be an entertaining contest.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
(RUS) Daniil Medvedev vs. (JPN) Kei Nishikori
Based on how he finished 2020, Medvedev has to be considered the third-best player in the world right now behind Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. The fourth-ranked Russian captured back-to-back titles and at the Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals. He now sits on an 11-match winning streak after defeating Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 6-3 on Tuesday. Medvedev is 5-1 for his ATP Cup career, having lost only to Djokovic in a tight three-setter during last year’s semifinals.
Up next for the 24-year-old on Wednesday is a fifth career contest against Nishikori, with the head-to-head series tied 2-2. However, they last faced each other in the spring of 2019 and since then they have gone in very different directions. Nishikori cannot seem to shake the injury big, which is part of the reason why he is outside the top 40 and won only two matches throughout the entirety of 2020. It’s hard to see a rusty Nishikori being competitive in this one.
Pick: Medvedev in 2
WWW?
Nishi wont get set