Kei Nishikori and Dominic Thiem will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers and for the second time this fall when they wrap up their round-robin campaigns at the Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday afternoon.
Nishikori leads the head-to-head series 3-1 after crushing Thiem 6-3, 6-1 on the indoor hard courts of Vienna late last month. Unsurprisingly, Thiem’s lone win over the Japanese veteran has come on clay–via a 6-2, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4 scoreline at the French Open earlier this season. Nishikori has defeated the Austrian on all three surfaces: hard courts, clay (2016 in Rome), and grass (2015 in Halle).
Although both men are still mathematically alive for semifinals qualification in London, Thiem is all but out due to records of 0-2 in matches and 0-4 in total sets. The 25-year-old turned in a decent performance on Sunday but lost to a red-hot Kevin Anderson 6-3, 7-6(10) before spraying 34 unforced errors in a 6-2, 6-3 setback against Roger Federer on Tuesday night.
“I was playing very, very bad,” Thiem admitted. “Many unusual mistakes…. I made mistakes where I don’t really know where they are coming from. At the end [there were] way too many unforced errors.”
Nishikori did not played well in either one of his first two Group B contests–not even in a 7-6(4), 6-3 upset of an out-of-sorts Federer in his opener. The world No. 9 proceeded to get blown off the court by Anderson 6-0, 6-1 on Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s different surface; this one is much quicker,” Nishikori said of his recent rout of Thiem in Vienna. “He’s obviously a good player; he’s done really well this year. So I’m sure it’s going to be a tough one. I have to raise my level, for sure.”
It may be easier for the 28-year-old to step up his game because he remains in very realistic semifinal contention. Nishikori will likely advance with a win unless he goes three sets and Federer beats Anderson in straights. He could also go through with a three-set loss if Federer goes down to Anderson. Thiem, on the other hand, is basically done.
Pick: Nishikori in 3
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