Gael Monfils v Kei Nishikori Preview – August 30th, 2018
This will be one of the highlight matches on Thursday from the US Open 2018. Japan star Nishikori, who is the ranked 19th in the world at the moment carried a 23-13 match record for the season with him into the US Open.
After a positive run to the quarter finals of Wimbledon where he was stopped by Novak Djokovic, Nishikori hasn’t delivered on the hard court swing yet. That could open the door for 2/1 underdog Monfils to strike* (betting odd taken on August 29th, 2018 at 7:18 pm).
Gael Monfils v Kei Nishikori Odds*
Kei Nishikori 2/5
Gael Monfils 2/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on August 29th, 2018 at 7:18 pm)
Nishikori lost in the first round of the Rogers Cup and then in the second round of Cincinnati. He did win a couple of games in Washington at the Citi Open before that, but he hasn’t had a great time of things. He opened his US Open campaign with a straight sets easy win over Germany’s Max Marterer. This is going to be infinitely more difficult for him though against an energetic and powerful opponent.
Right out of the gate we expected this to be longer than just three sets and therefore over 3.5 sets is at 1/2 odds with bet365* (betting odds taken on August 29th, 2018 at 7:18 pm). Nishikori and Monfils have met four times before and Nishikori is 3-1 ahead. Their most recent meeting though was last year at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada event and Monfils won that 2-1 in sets. All four previous meetings have gone the distance in sets.
Monfils took a win in four sets against Argentine Facundo Bagnis in his opening match. The French man is hugely popular on the court because of his spirit and energy and just two years ago at the US Open, he made a fantastic semi final run. His best other finishes at the competition were quarter-final places in 2010 and 2014. Monfils took a 22-14 season record into Flushing Meadows with him and he does have a title although that was right at the start of the year.
Prediction
We are just going to side with Nishikori although we can see him dropping a set as Monfils likes to come out strong. The trouble for Monfils is that he hasn’t had much time at all on hard court surfaces since Wimbledon and that may ultimately work against him in this match. Nishikori 3-1 in set betting appeals* (betting odds taken on August 29th, 2018 at 7:18 pm)
