Kei Nishikori and Nick Kyrgios will meet once again in a Masters 1000 event. This will be their first meeting on clay, but the two met earlier this year at the Miami Open. The winner of this match will book a spot in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open with a potential date with Novak Djokovic as the prize.
Road to the Quarters
The fiery Nick Kyrgios didn’t have the benefit of a first round bye since he’s not a top eight seeded player. The Australian took out Guido Pella in straight sets before meeting a familiar foe in Stan Wawrinka. Kyrgios and Wawrinka’s bad blood has dated back to the summer of last year when it began with the Swiss talking about Kyrgios in Queen’s, which was then followed by the “infamous bang” of 2015 in Canada. Needless to say, there’s always an aura of drama surrounding these two when they play.
The Swiss held a couple of set points in the opener, but Kyrgios snatched it in the first set tiebreak. The Australian took the match in two tiebreaks, setting up a meeting with Pablo Cuevas. Cuevas, a clay-court specialist. The Uruguayan had previously beaten two tough opponents in Philipp Kohlschreiber and Gael Monfils to get to the third round. This was a tough one for Kyrgios, but he managed to go the distance and get the win.
Nishikori, a top eight seed, was given a bye. The Japanese has also dropped sets en route to the quarterfinals, dropping his first against the enigmatic Italian Fabio Fognini. The Japanese dropped the second set before taking a tightly-contested third set 7-5. In the third round, he met a foe whom he had not beaten before in Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman was 6-0 headed into the showdown and threatened to potentially take it to a third set after breaking the world number six whilst he was serving for the match. Nishikori went on to break back and then consolidated to finish out the match for his first win over the Frenchman.
Head-to-Head
Nishikori leads the head-to-head in this one 2-0. The two have met only in Masters 1000 events with the first coming in Shanghai then the second Miami this year. The Aussie has taken one set over Nishikori, the first set in Shanghai.
Analysis
This matchup offers two differing styles… power - movement. The Kyrgios game screams power, raw power. All of the shots in the Aussie’s arsenal can be big, especially the forehand. Kyrgios provides an all-court game, but Nishikori’s movement and backhand should be able to neutralize that power. Nishikori is widely regarded as one of the best clay-courters amongst the top guys so Kyrgios will need to try and outhit the Japanese to take the match.
Prediction: Nishikori in three
Madrid has always been a place that has been good to the Aussie as he picked up another milestone win in the Spanish capital by defeating Roger Federer last year. With a win, Kyrgios can match his best showing in a Masters 1000 event, a semifinal. However, Nishikori’s clay court prowess puts him just over the edge in this one.