Rafael Nadal will continue his Beijing campaign when he goes up against Karen Khachanov on Thursday. The remaining second-round schedule also includes a showdown between Alexander Zverev and Fabio Fognini.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Karen Khachanov
It was Nadal who came close to getting bounced of this tournament right away. The top-seeded Spaniard twice was within one point of defeat against Lucas Pouille, but he fought back to win 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 after two hours and 31 minutes. Nadal is now 57-9 this year with Grand Slam titles at the French Open and U.S. Open. He should be able to pick up the pace in this one and extend Khachanov’s woes with much less than trouble than he endured against Pouille.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 8 games or fewer
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Fabio Fognini vs. (2) Alexander Zverev
At No. 4 in the race to London and in the world, Zverev can coast into a debut appearance at the World Tour Finals. Nonetheless, he is showing signs of employing the Dominic Thiem school of thinking and playing at just about every opportunity. Following Laver Cup duty for the victorious Team Europe, the 20-year-old German played in Shenzhen (lost to Damir Dzumhur in the quarterfinals after outlasting Steve Darcis in a thriller) and has turned up this week in Beijing prior to the upcoming Shanghai Masters. Having lost early in Shenzhen, a somewhat rested Zverev defeated Kyle Edmund 6-3, 7-6(3) on Tuesday.
Next up for the No. 2 seed on Thursday is second career contest against Fognini. They recently faced each other for the first time this spring on the red clay of Rome. where Zverev cruised 6-3, 6-3. Fognini is a solid 31-19 in 2017 following his opening 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Robin Haase and his fall swing began with a runner-up showing in St. Petersburg. But the 26th-ranked Italian will try to trade huge-hitting blows with Zverev and that will once again not work out well for him.
Pick: Zverev in 2
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