There are just a couple of big tournaments to left to wrap up the 2018 Tennis season and we are very much in the midst of one of those at the Paris Masters which has reached the Third Round.
Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro have some real doubts around them surrounding their participation in the ATP World Tour Finals after both withdrew from the main draw here and this is the time of the season when players perhaps start to think about the upcoming break they are going to enjoy.
Others have vital Ranking points to earn if they are going to have a chance to be Seeded in a good position at the Australian Open, while there are still a couple of places to be secured in London for the ATP World Tour Finals.
Marin Cilic - 2.5 games v Grigor Dimitrov: These two players are amongst the biggest names on the ATP Tour, but Marin Cilic is ending the season in a poor run of form while Grigor Dimitrov has had an underwhelming 2018 season.
At least Cilic has played well enough through the course of the season to be set for a return to London and the ATP World Tour Finals. His position has not been confirmed just yet, but Cilic could be right on the brink of earning a top eight finish by moving through to the Paris Masters Quarter Final.
It has been tough work for Cilic over the last month with a couple of upsets going against him, but he has been a little unfortunate at times too. In some of those defeats Cilic has been one or two points from really turning the match in his favour and I have more confidence in him than I do in Grigor Dimitrov.
The Bulgarian beat Roberto Bautista Agut in the Second Round in straight sets despite the two players winning the same amount of points. It looks like Dimitrov has brought in Andre Agassi to help him out, but that impact won't be felt until 2019 and this is a player who has surprisingly struggled on the hard courts.
Dimitrov did win the ATP World Tour Finals in 2017, but he won't be involved in London which means this is a big week for him to pick up some vital Ranking points. However he is going to have to return much more effectively than he has done and I do think Cilic can get into the Dimitrov service games which makes the Croatian a significant favourite in this one.
It is Cilic who holds the head to head advantage over Dimitrov too and I think he will be good enough to win this match and cover this number.
Kevin Anderson v Kei Nishikori: He may now be 33 years old, but Kevin Anderson has underlined the fact he may be playing the best tennis of his career by reaching the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time. The South African won the title in Vienna on Sunday and faces the same opponent he met on his way to winning the biggest tournament of his career.
Kei Nishikori is chasing a place in London and needs to beat Kevin Anderson or he will be hoping there are one or two players who drop out of competing at the final tournament of the season.
This has been a strong year for Nishikori on his return to the Tour following injury, although he is still not quite back to his very best. Nishikori has been in fine form over the several weeks having following up his run to the US Open Semi Final by finishing Runner Up in Tokyo and Vienna, although I do wonder whether the confidence is still not quite up to full level with a couple of losses at the business end of tournaments.
His hard court numbers have been decent in 2018 and there hasn't been much between those and Kevin Anderson's hard court numbers. The latter has really enjoyed playing on the surface in the last couple of years and Anderson holds a vital mental edge over Nishikori having beaten him twice on the hard courts in 2018 including a few days ago in Vienna.
In those matches the key difference has been the superiority of the Anderson serve and that may be the outcome again in this Third Round match. While Anderson has been able to look after his serve effectively against Nishikori, the Japanese star has not been able to avoid the one or two sloppy service games that have been something of a feature of his play in 2018.
Fatigue is a potential issue, especially as Anderson had to spend a lot more time on the court on Wednesday than Nishikori did, but I think the serve can see him avoid being involved in too many long rallies and the big South African can be backed as the underdog to win this match.
MY PICKS: Marin Cilic - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Karen Khachanov - 1.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Jack Sock - 3.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Dominic Thiem - 0.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Roger Federer - 4.5 Games @ 2.10 Ladbrokes (2 Units)
Kevin Andeson @ 2.20 Bet Fred (2 Units)
No comments:
Post a Comment