Kei Nishikori and Andy Murray will be squaring off for the 12th time in their careers when they clash in round one of the San Diego Open on Tuesday evening.
Murray is dominating the head-to-head series 9-2, but they have not faced each other since 2017 and Nishikori has at least managed to win two of their last six hard-court encounters.
Although he is winning a decent amount of matches these days, Murray is obviously a shadow of the player who beat Nishikori on all of those occasions in the past. The 34-year-old Scot has done will to put himself on the verge of a top-100 breakthrough, but he is just 8-8 on the main tour this season and has struggled against elite competition.
This isn’t peak Nishikori, either, but the world No. 52 from Japan is in fine form at the moment. He is riding an impressive streak of 12 consecutive tournaments in which he has won his first-round match, and in seven of those 12 he has won multiple matches. Recent results include a runner-up performance in Washington, D.C. and third-round appearance at the U.S. Open, where he took a set off Novak Djokovic.
Dating back to 2016, four of the last five meetings between Nishikori and Murray have required final sets–including a pair of five-setters. Another competitive contest can be expected on Tuesday, and you can’t bet against Nishikori in a third set against the current Murray.
Pick: Nishikori in 3
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Murray in two tight sets