Andrey Rublev
Yoshihito Nishioka will take on the fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the Round of 32 at the Madrid Open
Yoshihito Nishioka is coming into this encounter following a hard-fought 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Slovakia’s Alex Molcan. The No.28 seed was given a run for his money in his opening encounter but the Japanese ace held his nerves to come back from a set down and register a commendable victory.
Nishioka hasn’t been in the best form of late and has lacked consistency throughout the season. It remains to be seen if he can turn things around in Madrid and cause a few upsets.
Rublev has been in sublime touch recently and is coming into this match after a convincing straight-sets victory against Stanislas Wawrinka. The Russian received a ‘Bye’ in his first round due to his superior ranking and defeated Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4 in his opening encounter of the tournament. Rublev is seeded No.5 in Madrid and he is certainly one of the favourites to go all the way and clinch the title.
The World No.6 is in such good form that he made two ATP finals in April. He had an incredible title-winning campaign at the Monte Carlo Masters earlier this month and followed it up with another successful campaign at the Srpska, where he fell just short in the final and finished runners-up. There is no doubt that Rublev is high on confidence after two immensely successful campaigns and he will be looking to capitalise on this positive momentum in Madrid.
Details:
Date – Sunday, 30th April
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Madrid, Spain
Match details – Second Round match
Head to head and Predictions
Rublev and Nishioka have played each other three rimes before on the ATP tour. They know each other’s game very well and all the encounters were closely fought with the head to head tally currently standing at 2-1 in Nishioka’s favour. However, Rublev is the clear favourite going into this match both in terms of form and rankings but we can certainly expect the Japanese star to pose a tough challenge. It promises to be an intense clash and we are predicting Rublev to see off Nishioka’s challenge by winning in three sets.
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