The second round of an ATP 1000 tournament at Cincinnati, USA (hard). There we have two Japanese players facing off against each other in a very exciting battle. To have more insights on this ATP Kei Nishikori vs Yoshihito Nishioka match, please check out the preview below.
Kei Nishikori
29 years old and currently 5th ranked Nishikori is for sure the best Japanese player to ever play the game. He’s holding incredible career record on hard surface by winning 272 out of 394 matches played, which translates to 69%. Nishikori has been playing well this season and has already won a title at Brisbane, Australia. Anyway, the other tournament were not that successful as Nishikori has dropped out until the quarter-finals from every major tournament he’s played at this year. Kei also dropped out from Montreal in the first round against Frenchman R. Gasquet, which was a very unexpected defeat. His form is kind of questionable at the moment, but there is no doubt that Nishikori is a top tier player who can get in the form very quickly and we’ll have to see how long will it take for him to adapt here, at Cincinnati.
Yoshihito Nishioka
23 years old, currently ranked 77th overall Japanese player is having a good season playing on a hard surface so far. He’s already won 14 out of 22 matches this year and has an over 66% career win rate on hard surface overall, which is really good for such a young player. Nishioka has successfully passed the qualification for the Cincinnati by defeating J. Millman and J. Jousa quite comfortably. He’s also defeated J. Thompson at the first round of the main stage and have been playing very well these past weeks overall. Nishioka is only 1,70 m. and doesn’t have a strong, reliable serve, so he’s mainly relying on his ability to play long rallies and find his opportunities to strike. Tomorrow’s match against the best Japanese player will be a very good experience for a young man.
Kei Nishikori vs Yoshihito Nishioka H2H
These players have never played against each other before.
Article image is taken from https://www.usopen.org