Karen Khachanov v Kei Nishikori Live Streaming, Prediction & Preview for French Open 2021: Tight Contest But Surface Favors Nishikori

Kei Nishikori v Ricardas Berankis Live Streaming, Prediction
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Russian Next Gen Karen Khachanov plays Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori in the second round of the 2021 French Open on Wednesday, June 2. Get the live streaming options of this Karen Khachanov v Kei Nishikori match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.

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Karen Khachanov v Kei Nishikori Head to Head

Nishikori leads the head-t0-head 3-2. While Nishikori won both their hard court meetings, Khachanov has won the meetings on grass. Their only meeting on clay was at the Madrid ATP Masters this summer where Nishikori came back after losing the first set in a tiebreak, to win in three sets.

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Khachanov Strong In Opener

Russian Karen Khachanov had a strong early start to his career winning four ATP titles by 2018, including the Paris Masters and breaking into the top 10 in the rankings as well. Unfortunately, his career has slid since and he has not managed to get back to the level he was at again.

2021 has also been up and down for the Russian who did not have the best of runs on clay coming into the French Open.  After a second round showing at Monte Carlo, he lost in the opener at Barcelona, Madrid and Rome.

Although Khachanov had a better showing at Lyon (lost to Norrie in semis), he did not come to Roland Garros with too much confidence on clay and was drawn against Jiri Veseley in the first round.

The Russian put up an impressive show with a solid all round performance winning 86% of his first serves, returning strong and breaking serve three times in the opener and three more times in the match, saving both break points that he faced as well.

Khachanov plays three-time Roland Garros quarter-finalist Kei Nishikori in the second round.

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Nishikori Pushed to Five Sets In First Round

Kei Nishikori once ranked number four in the world was the 2014 US Open finalist and has made the final eight here in Paris on three occasions, including as recently as 2019.

Injuries, poor form and long breaks from the game were a big deterrent to his career as he has dropped to world number 49 in the interim.  2021 did not start off well for the Japanese, but semi-finals at Rotterdam and Dubai made his first quarter of the year look considerably better.

His clay season before the French Open was mixed with him getting off to starts at Barcelona, Madrid and Masters but losing in the round of 32 and 16 to the more accomplished likes of Rafa Nadal and Alexander Zverev.

Nishikori opened his French Open campaign against Italian qualifier Alessandro Giannessi and was expected to prevail smoothly, but instead made heavy weather of the match.

Nishikori looked in control being up two sets to one but the Italian came back strong to take the fourth set and go up a break in the decider. The Japanese used all his experience to come back and not only break back but double break to go win the final set.

The former top five player, Nishikori will be upset that given how much his return game has been a strength of his, that he squandered 19 break points through the match. He will look for better form and shorter matches as the tournament prevails.

Khachanov v Nishikori Prediction and Tip

Both players are looking to resurrect their careers and it has been a mixed season for both as they have not been able to achieve the consistency levels they would have liked.

Expect a close tussle between both with Nishikori to prevail in four tight sets.

Tip: Nishikori to win in four sets : 9/2 (Click Here to Bet with bet365)

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The 2021 French Open will be played from May 30 to June 13. Get all the latest French Open previews, predictions & odds here. You can also learn more about Spread Betting in tennis here.

About Samir Talwar 940 Articles
Samir is a New York based Wall Street credit analyst, who is always ready to get into analytical discussions on the men’s tennis circuit. He loves his tennis & cricket.

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