Hubert Hurkacz vs Yoshihito Nishioka Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Cincinnati Open

Prediction published on 14/08/2024, 08:21  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 14/08/2024 at 08:55 in ATP Cincinnati Open Predictions

Fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz has a potentially tricky match in round two of the hard court Cincinnati Masters against Yoshihito Nishioka. Hurkacz showed some good form in Montreal last week so here's our prediction for this match.

The world number seven received a bye into the first round. The Pole made it to the last eight in Montreal last week but lost to the eventual winner Alexei Popyrin. Hurkacz is 13th in the ATP Live Race so has a bit of work to do if wanting to qualify for the ATP Tour Finals.

He's reached one ATP Tour hard court semi-final this year. That was in Marseille but he has won one clay title this year. The winner of this match will face unseeded opposition in the last 16, either Flavio Cobolli or Luciano Darderi.

Yoshihito Nishioka is at 52nd in the latest ranking list but was as high as 24th last year. The Japanese player had to win two qualifiers to make it into the main draw of this Masters tournament. He had straight sets wins over Taro Daniel and Arthur Cazaux in the qualifying rounds.

Round one of the main draw saw him take on unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic and he also won that without dropping a set.  He's now 51st in the live rankings and up to 59th in the ATP Race. Nishioka had slipped to 86th in the rankings before a big win last month.

He won the ATP hard court tournament held in Atlanta but then lost in his first match in his next two tournaments. He seems to be back in form now and our prediction for this match is over 21.5 games to be played.