Japan’s Kei Nishikori plays big serving American Reilly Opelka in the first round of the 2021 ATP Dubai on Sunday, March 14. The match is yet to be scheduled. Get the live streaming options of this Kei Nishikori v Reilly Opelka match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Kei Nishikori v Reilly Opelka Head to Head
The players have never met before and this will be their first ever meeting on the tour.
Also Read:
Nishikori Continues Return To Tour
Once ranked number four in the world, it has been a tough last 18 months for 2014 US Open finalist and ten time Grand Slam quarter-finalist Kei Nishikori from Japan. While he has made comebacks from injury layoffs in the past, the last year has again seen a mix of injuries, a bout of Covid and poor form.
Ranked number 40 in the world now, Nishikori ended the 2020 season after a second round loss at the French Open hoping to start 2021 better, but it did not start on the best of notes for the star from Japan either.
The ATP Cup saw losses in both his singles matches as Japan did not make it out of the group stages and the Australian Open saw a first round loss against in-form Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
The Rotterdam ATP 500 was a much better outing for Nishikori with victories against Next Gen stars Felix Auger- Aliassime and Alex de Minaur, which did wonders for his confidence, not having defeated a top twenty player in over a year prior to that.
Although the Japanese was eliminated in the final eight by Croatian Borna Coric in two tight tiebreaks, it was the first sign of a Nishikori revival and he was hoping for a similar or better run in Marseille this week.
However, a surprise first round loss against French doubles specialist Pierre-Hugues Herbert with Nishikori winning only five games was against the run of events. Herbert has been in good touch and made the finals in Marseille however.
Nishikori will be hoping for a good run this week in Dubai, ahead of the Miami Masters 1000 and the clay season thereafter.
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2021 Looking Disappointing For Opelka
Big serving America Reilly Opelka has been in good touch over the last couple seasons winning two ATP titles and reaching a career high of world number 31. Currently ranked number 38 in the world, the post Covid pandemic hiatus was not overly friendly to the American as he did not hit much good form after making the final eight at the Western & Southern Open right after the break.
2021 was not off to the best of starts for Opelka either, with an early loss at the ATP 250 in Melbourne followed by a five set epic defeat to his good friend American Taylor Fritz over at the Australian Open second round.
With the indoor season well suited to the big serve, Opelka was hoping to make inroads leading to the Miami Masters, before moving over to the more challenging clay court season in Europe.
Appearances in Rotterdam and Doha did not turn out so well for the American. He had tight opening round matches in both tournaments against Marton Fucsovics and Roberto Bautista Agut, but lost both in deciders. Incidentally, Fucsovics and Agut went on to make the finals respectively.
Opelka will be hoping for a considerably better run to set his disappointing ’21 season thus far, back on track.
Nishikori v Opelka Prediction and Tip
Both players are looking to get their 2021 season settled and neither has been overly successful thus far. That being said, the Japanese has shown signs of getting into some sort of a rhythm.
The winner on Sunday will depend largely on who is better on the given day. But, the more experienced Nishikori has looked in better touch of late than Opelka and we expect he may just pull of a tight three-set win.
Tip: Nishikori to win in three sets: 15/4(bet365)
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The 2021 ATP Dubai Open will be played from March 14-21. You can watch & bet on these matches here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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