Felix Auger Aliassime vs Yoshihito Nishioka Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Japan Open

Prediction published on 25/09/2024, 04:47  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 25/09/2024 at 04:51 in Tennis Predictions

World number 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime and wildcard Yoshihito Nishioka will meet in the first round of the Japan Open. The game this Thursday will be their third meeting this year. Read on for our prediction for this match.

Auger-Aliassime is having a strong season and looks to be finally over the fitness issues that disrupted his 2023 and part of this season. The Canadian has compiled a 30-21 record, the majority of which were on clay, and yielded a Masters runner-up finish in Madrid.

The five-time tour champion also produced a run to the semi-finals at the Paris Olympics. In Madrid and at the French Open, he faced off with Nishioka and won both meetings which were first-round ties.

He has now won the last four matches in which he has battled the Japanese player and will be confident of another success. The 24-year-old is coming off a Davis Cup appearance where he won three matches.

Yoshihito Nishioka is back in Tokyo for the sixth time. He hasn’t had the best of times playing on home soil at this ATP 500 tournament. In his six appearances, only once has he won his opening round match.

That was in 2019 but even still, he was eliminated in the very next round. But with a decent run in the past few weeks, he will fancy his chances of overturning this unwanted record.

The Japanese number one has won six of his last nine matches. After representing Japan in the Davis Cup, he participated in the inaugural Hangzhou Open, losing to eventual champion Marin Cilic.

The 28-year-old, who has compiled a 27-22 record, claimed his third tour title with success in Atlanta. He is currently placed 63rd in the live ranking. The winner will play Holger Rune or Alejandro Tabilo next.