After hard-fought second rounds for both players, No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori faces Australian youngster Jordan Thompson for a spot in the last four in Brisbane on Friday. Thomas Cluck previews the action.
Kei Nishikori will go up against rising Australian star Jordan Thompson in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International on Friday. With a coveted spot in the last four on the line at this Australian Open Series event in Queensland, both players will be looking to bolster their confidence and fine-tune their games ahead of the first major of the season in Melbourne.
Following a bye in the opening round, Nishikori began his Brisbane campaign against talented American Jared Donaldson. The Japanese star’s rust was evident to see in a tight first set, which Donaldson battled to take 6-4 from 4-0 down. But Nishikori, known for his outstanding record in deciding sets, dug in and clawed his way back into the match with some improved consistency to force a decider. In that third set, it was Nishikori who once again raised his level when it counted en route to a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Similar to his opponent in the, Thompson has also had to work hard en route to the last eight. It was a matchup of youngsters in the opening round, with the Australian going up against Swedish rising star Elias Ymer. In his first match of the new year, Thompson dominated the proceedings 6-3, 6-2. The 20-year-old had a much tougher time, as expected, with tenacious Spaniard David Ferrer. Despite dropping the first set, Thompson recovered to pull off a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 upset.
Despite Thompson’s incredible play to come back from a set down against Ferrer two nights ago, it’s hard to look past Nishikori in this one. While the third seed did show a fair bit of rust in his opening victory over Donaldson, it was his first match of the new season. Expect him to come out looking much better, cleaning up the unforced errors and moving Thompson around with his trademark groundstrokes.
Pick: Nishikori in 2
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Nishikori in 3