TipResumen

PREVIEW

The Tennis Tour has moved onto Cincinnati this week and it is the last really big tournament to be played before the final Grand Slam of the 2018 season begins later this month. It is important for players to get some matches under their legs, but both Kei Nishikori and Andrey Rublev have already enjoyed some success this summer. The more surprising of those has to be Rublev's Semi Final run in Washington earlier this month considering the youngster was coming back from an injury. He was not able to back that up in Toronto last week, but Rublev will be hoping to put some Ranking points on the board in Cincinnati knowing he has a lot of points to defend from his Quarter Final appearance at the US Open last year. Rublev has been a little inconsistent on the hard courts in 2018 and his serving numbers are slightly down on 2017, but it is the return which has made him so effective. However the defeat in Toronto means he has been beaten in the First Round in all three Masters events played in 2018 and now he faces a tough opponent in Kei Nishikori who also had a poor week in Canada which he would love to bounce back from. The Japanese star reached the Quarter Final in Washington before going down to a First Round defeat to Robin Haase last week. Nishikori was returning from an injury earlier this season which may have contributed to the dent in his hard court numbers compared with recent seasons, but you would hope Nishikori will get more out of his return of serve than he has gotten so far in 2018. On the main ATP Tour Nishikori's break percentage is down to 21% compared with 28% in 2017 and that is despite only a slight drop in the amount of points being won against serve. It certainly makes it very difficult for Nishikori to win matches when you think the serve has always been slightly vulnerable and even those numbers have been down compared to recent seasons. To be fair to Nishikori, the numbers are much better when he has played opponents Ranked outside the top 20 and that is what he is facing with Rublev in the First Round in Cincinnati. There is much to like about the young Russian's game, but his numbers are pretty average on the hard courts when facing opponents Ranked inside the top 50 and I will back Nishikori to be the player who bounces back from the early exit in Toronto and he can win and cover in this one.



PREDICTION

2018 has been a difficult year for Kei Nishikori as he rebuilds the World Ranking on his return from injury, but he can win this match and cover against a quality youngster in Andrey Rublev. T