5th seed Yoshihito Nishioka locks horns with German veteran Oscar Otte in the round of 32 of the 2023 Delray Beach Open.
The Japanese star has had a promising start to 2023. He began the season by playing in the Adelaide International 1 where he reached the semis.
In the Australian Open, Nishioka played some fine tennis and defeated the likes of Mikael Ymer, Dalibor Svrcina, and Mackenzie McDonald in straight sets to make it to the fourth round of a Grand Slam event for the first time in his career. Nishioka’s run ended with a loss to 18th seed Karen Khachanov in straight sets. In the doubles event, Nishioka teamed up with compatriot Ben McLachlan and lost to the third-seeded team of Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.
The 29-year-old comes into the tournament on the back of an exit in the round of 16 of the Dallas Open. He defeated Christopher Eubanks in the round of 32 before losing to 7th seed Marcos Giron in the following round.
Prior to this event, Otte lost to Juncheng Shang in the first round of the Australian Open. Otte smashed 18 aces in the match but that did not prove to be enough as he lost in four sets. He committed 7 double faults and failed to break his opponent throughout the match.
Interestingly, the two players have faced each other on only one occasion thus far and that came in the 2022 Delray Beach Open. Otte defeated Nishioka in straight sets 7-6, 6-3 in the first round.
Prediction: Yoshihito Nishioka to win in straight sets.
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