Kei Nishikori’s recent Grand Slam success continues on the clay courts of Paris as he reached his first ever French Open quarterfinal. The fifth-seeded Japanese crushed Teymuraz Gabashvili to set up a date with hometown hero Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tsonga himself is on a terrific run at Roland Garros, and will have the support of the partisan Parisian crowd against the dangerous Japanese. Read on for our preview of this terrific quarterfinal matchup.
Meanwhile, see who follows Nishikori and Tsonga to the quarterfinals with our previews of the Djokovic vs. Gasquet and Nadal vs. Sock round of 16 matchups.
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Kei Nishikori vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Betting Preview
Fresh from a third round walkover due to Benjamin Becker’s injury withdrawal, Kei Nishikori took down Teymuraz Gabashvili with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win in their round of 16 clash.
[sc:Other240banner ]Nishikori, perhaps a little rusty after the round off, committed five double faults and 34 unforced errors against the Russian. But Nishikori stamped his class in the end, as he won 82 percent of his first serve points and hit 40 winners.
With the win, the Japanese improved to 14-2 on clay this year, with his only losses coming at the hands of World No. 3 Andy Murray at the Madrid Masters and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the Rome Masters. Nishikori also advanced to his third consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal after reaching last year’s US Open final and this year’s Australian Open quarterfinal.
Nishikori was able to break Gabashvili five times in 16 attempts, but his conversion percentage of 31 percent was way down from his season average of 44 percent. His return game must be sharper against Tsonga to prevent the strong-serving Frenchman from getting more opportunities to save his service game.
Nishikori’s relatively fresh legs could also serve him well against Tsonga, an opponent that has historically taken him to the limit. The Japanese is 8-2 in deciding sets this season, and is 11-2 in his career in five-set matches. Nishikori is 4-1 in his career against Tsonga, with all five meetings coming on hard court.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga became the first player to knock out a top-five seed in this year’s French Open as he triumphed over No. 4-seeded Tomas Berdych, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the round of 16. With the French crowd fully behind him, Tsonga powered through the nearly three-hour ordeal to reach his third Roland Garros quarterfinal in four years.
Tsonga’s trademark service game served him well, as he put 65 percent of his first serves in play, and won 77 percent of those first serve points. He also hit 13 aces, giving him 24 in his last two matches.
But Tsonga’s ability to break Nishikori’s serve will be key in his quest to take down another top-five seed. Tsonga’s serve was broken twice by Berdych, but the Frenchman broke back six times in just 10 attempts. Tsonga has now broken his opponents six times in each of his four French Open matches thus far, converting a sizzling 49 percent of his break point attempts.
Tsonga has lost four of his five career meetings against Nishikori, but he has been competitive in every single one of them. He’s taken the Japanese to the maximum number of sets in all four of his losses, which included a five-set war in the 2012 Australian Open. Conversely, Tsonga’s lone win against Nishikori was a straight-sets victory back in the 2013 Shanghai Masters.
Writer’s Prediction
Despite a valiant effort from Tsonga, Nishikori (-340) nails down a place in the semis with a four-set win.
