Madrid R3 previews and predictions: Raonic vs. Goffin, Nishikori vs. Ferrer

A pair of familiar matchups are part of the third-round schedule on Thursday in Madrid. Milos Raonic is going up against David Goffin, while David Ferrer got a walkover from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and will now meet Kei Nishikori.

(5) Milos Raonic vs. (9) David Goffin

Raonic and Goffin will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers when they battle for a spot in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at 2-1 in favor of Raonic, who most recently staged a 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 comeback last summer at Wimbledon. All three of their previous encounters have gone the distance, as Goffin prevailed 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4 on the indoor hard courts of Basel in 2014 before falling 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at the 2016 Indian Wells Masters.

Because Raonic’s is more dangerous on grass and fast hard courts, and because he has played sparingly this spring due to injury, expectations were–and still are–relatively low for the clay-court swing. But the sixth-ranked Canadian finished runner-up last week in Istanbul (lost to Marin Cilic 7-6(3), 6-3) and took care of Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-4 in Madrid on Wednesday. An in-form Goffin is 26-9 this year with a recent semifinal showing in Monte-Carlo in addition to final appearances in Sofia and Rotterdam. The 10th-ranked Belgian has advanced this week by beating Karen Khachanov and Florian Mayer in straight sets. High altitude will help Raonic, but Goffin is looking incredibly comfortable on clay right now and should be able to play his way into enough rallies in order to pull off what would be an upset only according to ranking and seed.

Pick: Goffin in 3

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(6) Kei Nishikori vs. David Ferrer

At 35 years old and down at No. 30 in the world, Ferrer needs all the help he can get right now–especially in an effort to secure a seed at Roland Garros. Help is exactly what the Spaniard got on Wednesday, when scheduled second-round opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew due to a shoulder injury. Thus Ferrer’s opening 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 victory over Mikhail Kukushkin on Monday, which improved his 2017 record to a modest 6-8, became even more important.

Up next for Ferrer on Thursday is a 13th career showdown against Nishikori, who leads the head-to-head series 8-4, including 2-0 on clay. Both of their previous clay-court contests have come in Madrid, where the Japanese star got the job done 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 in 2014 and 6-4, 6-2 one season later. Nishikori missed the start of this clay-court swing with a wrist issue, but he managed to scrape past Diego Schwartzman 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 in a high-quality contest on Wednesday. This is a nightmare matchup for Ferrer, because the world No. 6 can implement the exact same style of play while also playing far better defense and wielding much bigger offensive firepower.

Pick: Nishikori in 2

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