Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori will take on Croatia’s Borna Coric for a spot in the Rotterdam semifinals on Friday, while American Tommy Paul does battle with Marton Fucsovics. Both are all-unseeded affairs.
Kei Nishikori vs. Borna Coric
It’s been quite a long time since Kei Nishikori has won a few tennis matches in a row. The Japanese star had a good season in 2019 with quarterfinal results at the French Open and Wimbledon, but then he had elbow surgery at the end of 2019 and the winning dried up almost completely. The entirety of 2020 was a bust and the start of 2021 looked like it was headed that way, as well. Nishikori was 0-3 coming into this week.
Now Nishikori finds himself in the quarterfinals with a pair of upset wins over Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur. He will face world No. 26 Borna Coric, who has also limped through the start of the 2021 season.
Coric won a couple of matches at his Australian Open warmup event, but he was sent packing in the second round of the main event at the hands of American Mackenzie McDonald. The Croat dispatched Botic Van de Zandschulp and Dusan Lajovic en route to the Rotterdam quarters.
While Coric has won a few more matches this season, Nishikori has been in better form this week. If he continues to play as he has done, his form is enough to squeak past Coric.
Cheryl pick – Nishikori in 3
Ricky pick: Nishikori in 3
Tommy Paul vs. Marton Fucsovics
With wins over Lorenzo Sonego and Alexander Bublik, American Tommy Paul has already had a strong week in Rotterdam. His quarterfinal match against world No. 59 Marton Fucsovics represents an excellent opportunity to earn himself a semifinal spot at 500-level event. The draw in Rotterdam was challenging at one point, but surprising early losses of many of the top seeds opened it up considerably.
Fucsovics posted a notable win at the Australian Open over former champion Stan Wawrinka, but he crashed out in the next round at the hands of Milos Raonic. Fucsovics earned his Friday quarterfinal spot with wins over Reilly Opelka and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The Hungarian benefitted, as Paul did, from some of the top Rotterdam seeds bowing out early (he could have faced Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round.
Paul looked slightly better in his second-round match than Fucsovics did, and while the match itself might not be particularly elegant the American should just edge it in three.
Cheryl pick: Paul in 3
Ricky pick: Fucsovics in 2
WWW?
Coric in 3; Fvitz in 2.